Snape's Misunderstanding

Early the next morning,

Jerry and Hermione, who had arranged to meet beforehand, rushed eagerly toward the library on the second floor after breakfast in the Great Hall.

"So many books!"

The moment she entered the library, Hermione could not help letting out an exclamation of amazement.

Jerry swept his gaze across the room and nodded in agreement.

The films had never particularly emphasized the size of the library's collection, making Hogwarts Library seem neither very large nor stocked with many magical books.

But in reality, the library contained at least several thousand bookshelves and more than ten thousand magical books.

That made sense. Wizards had an extremely long history, with magic spanning all kinds of fields and classifications. How could there possibly be few related books?

"Let's get library cards first!"

After coming back to her senses, Hermione took Jerry by the hand and led him toward the librarian, Irma Pince.

Hermione had already told him on the way that anyone who wanted to read or borrow books from the library had to get a library card first.

The librarian, Irma Pince, was a thin and elderly witch. When she heard that Jerry and Hermione wanted library cards, she warned them in an extremely stern tone:

"If you slice, tear, fold, soil, damage, throw, drop, or in any other way harm, mistreat, or defile any book in this library, I will ensure that you suffer the most terrible consequences within my power.

Also, no snacks are allowed in the library, and without a teacher's signed approval, you are not permitted to enter the Restricted Section!"

Only after seeing Jerry and Hermione nod obediently did she tap two brand-new library cards with her wand. Once she had registered their information, she handed the cards to them.

"The Restricted Section...?"

Jerry reluctantly tore his gaze away from the rows of shelves marked Restricted Section and headed with Hermione toward the regular section to find the magical books they needed.

The shelves in the Restricted Section surely contained many magical books that recorded powerful spells and potions, but without a teacher's signed permission slip, they would not be easy to obtain.

He had actually considered sneaking into the library at night and stealing magical books from the Restricted Section, just as he had stolen the Half-Blood Prince's notes.

But after giving it some thought, he rejected that fanciful idea.

Aside from some basic herbs for student practice, there was nothing particularly valuable in the Potions Class classroom. Even if he were discovered after sneaking in, it would not be a major issue.

Besides, the Half-Blood Prince's notes had been sitting in the storage cabinet for a long time. Snape would not take them out to look through very often. If Jerry took the notes, memorized them quickly, and returned them, Snape probably would not notice.

But the library was different, especially the Restricted Section. With so many dangerous magical books inside, its defenses could not possibly be simple. He was not Harry, with Dumbledore opening back doors for him.

For now, it was better not to take that risk. He could consider it slowly once he became stronger.

There were simply too many books in the library, along with piles of miscellaneous volumes. Jerry searched for quite a while before finding a book that seemed useful to him at present.

"Recent Research on the Development of Wizardry"

After flipping through it briefly, he found that it contained quite a few explanations of Magical Theory, which would greatly help him learn spells. So he took the magical book to the reading area nearby and began reading with Refreshing Mind activated.

Before long, Hermione came over with a copy of "Guide to Medieval Wizardry" and sat down beside Jerry.

And so, the two of them sat quietly on the bench, reading their magical books. Whenever they encountered something difficult to understand, they tried discussing it with each other.

By the end of the day, both of them felt they had gained a great deal.

Sometimes, two people exchanging ideas really was more efficient than one person burying their head in thought alone.

Jerry felt that if he brought out the advanced spells invented by Snape and discussed them with Hermione, he should be able to shorten the time it took him to master them.

But after thinking it over, he chose not to do so.

For the time being, it was better not to let anyone know that he had secretly learned those spells. If it somehow got out, the good image he had built up would collapse.

Hogwarts Library closed at eight in the evening.

So, after agreeing to come back and read again tomorrow, Jerry and Hermione each borrowed several magical books with their library cards and left the library.

However, a small incident occurred as they were leaving.

They happened to run into the gloomy Professor Snape.

When Snape saw Jerry and Hermione chatting and laughing as they emerged from the library, he first froze for a moment. Then, for some reason, he unexpectedly asked them several questions in an unusually gentle tone.

One of them was whether Jerry and Hermione had known each other and become friends before entering Hogwarts.

Jerry had thought that since he and Hermione had met in Diagon Alley, they were indeed friends before coming to Hogwarts, so he nodded.

Who would have thought that after receiving his answer, Snape would suddenly stiffen all over, let out a long sigh, pat Jerry on the shoulder, and earnestly tell him not to let their friendship grow distant just because they had not been sorted into the same House.

And also, not to become too obsessed with magic, and not to lose to Harry!

Jerry was utterly baffled on the spot.

With Snape's personality, should he not have told Jerry to spend less time around foolish Gryffindors, focus more on studying magic, and earn points for Slytherin?

Could it be that he had misunderstood something?

Unable to figure it out, Jerry simply stopped dwelling on it and continued focusing on studying magic.

Over the next few days, whenever he had classes, he attended them seriously, studied hard, and actively answered questions to earn House points and raise his reputation.

Whenever he had no classes or during the evenings, he would take out the magical books he had borrowed from the library and study them in greater depth.

If there was anything he did not understand, he would go discuss it with Hermione.

He had actually wanted to seek guidance from the teachers.

But there were not many teachers at Hogwarts, and nearly all of them had to teach students from seven year groups. Their schedules were very tight, so they were not easy to find and did not have much time to give him detailed instruction.

Time quickly reached Wednesday of the second week.

That day, Jerry saw a notice on the bulletin board in the Slytherin Common Room saying that they would have Flying Class with Gryffindor tomorrow.

Many Little Wizards became excited by the arrival of Flying Class, especially boys like Little Malfoy, who loved Quidditch.

At ten o'clock on Wednesday night,

Jerry got up and left the dormitory as usual.

But this time, he did not go to the common room to read. Instead, violating Hogwarts' curfew, he secretly made his way upstairs.

He now had only a little over thirty Little Red Stars left, not enough to last until tomorrow.

So before returning to the main world at midnight, he had to get himself a flying broomstick.

That way, after returning, he could earn Little Red Stars more efficiently.