Help Someone All the Way

After dinner, Pettigrew came to Manus to express his gratitude and asked if he could try to pass the test now.

However, the test results were still not ideal.

"If you have time, you should visit the library more often. Hogwarts' library is a great place. You can read many books there, and if you don't understand something, you can ask a professor for help. But you'll never have that opportunity again after you leave the school."

Pettigrew nodded:

"I see. Potter and his friends go to the library quite often, though they mainly seem to go to the Restricted Section... But they'll have to wait until next semester starts to go to the library again."

Manus pretended not to hear the part about the Restricted Section:

"Go ahead, enjoy this holiday and experience a different kind of life."

Addressing learned helplessness requires more than just making the other person aware of the problem; that alone is insufficient to change long-standing habits. The key is to help them realize that they actually have the ability to change their current situation.

Before the dinner party even started tonight, Gryffindor was doing quite well. Although Potter and Black always ignored him in Pettigrew's previous accounts, it turns out that they were probably just simple-minded and didn't realize that Pettigrew was different from them.

Pettigrew is usually not very noticeable, so these two probably thought Pettigrew was just introverted, so there's no question of ignoring or not ignoring him.

But now Pettigrew has suddenly changed and is doing very well, and neither of them has shown any dissatisfaction at being overshadowed... at least not outwardly at the dinner tonight.

If this can be maintained, Pettigrew will indeed be able to feel this change at school.

But changes within the school are not enough. People can't stay in school forever. The core issue is to make people realize that their lives can be changed by their own efforts and choices.

In a sense, this holiday is the more important period.

"I will."

Pettigrew was also somewhat bewildered; he hadn't fully accepted his changes yet, and the past few days felt like a dream...

After Pettigrew left, Manus didn't rush off:

"Why didn't you come out earlier? It was like you were ashamed to be seen."

Barty Jr., having been freed from the Disillusionment Charm, emerged from around the corner:

"I don't think he necessarily wanted to see me just now... It's probably similar to when you were advising me, I didn't want to see anyone else, or for anyone else to know."

No one wants their deepest, most authentic self to be seen by anyone other than themselves. It's one thing for someone like Manus to help them find themselves, but a stranger...

Just thinking about it makes me want to break the law.

The good news is that as Barty Jr. gradually realizes the limitations of the law and that the so-called Unforgivable Curses is not the most powerful or the most evil magic.

Cough...

"Speaking of which, how did you two meet?"

Barty Jr. didn't quite understand; in his memory, Pettigrew's presence was so weak that he didn't even know the other person's name.

"That's hard to say... Just like when I met you all, it was mostly a coincidence."

It all started when Pettigrew approached Manus for help. It was later discovered that Pettigrew simply wanted someone to confide in, but Manus had promised not to tell anyone.

Moreover, it wouldn't be wrong to say that this process was a coincidence.

"He's really lucky."

Barty Jr. remarked that by sheer chance, he had managed to find the most authoritative psychologist in all of Hogwarts:

"You seem to think highly of him?"

"I wouldn't call it that, I was just helping someone to the end."

Manus could probably understand what Barty Jr. meant. It was simply that there were so many people who were unqualified to join the Wizard Sage Party, yet he had pointed out to Pettigrew how to improve himself so that he could join the Wizard Sage Party.

"And he really does have potential. He said he wanted to thank me, but I didn't need him to do anything for me, so he said if I really felt bad about it, he could join the Wizard Sage Party and help me with some things or extra requests..."

That being said, it's one thing that Manus didn't need Pettigrew to repay him, but the fact that Pettigrew had this idea still put him in a good mood, so he gave Pettigrew some pointers.

To be precise, he only gave a few words of instruction.

"By the way, you came here for...?"

"Oh, I meant to say this test paper... I've finished it."

Manus looked at the test paper that Barty Jr. had taken out and sat up slightly straighter:

"Oh? Let me see..."

After receiving the test paper, Manus first glanced at the final score:

"It actually passed?"

Only then did Manus, with a desire to investigate, look into the specific details of the answers and ask:

Did you feel anything special when you took the test for the last time?

"Hmm... to be specific, there's nothing particularly special about it, I just feel like I have some new ideas about the questions on the test..."

Manus frowned slightly. It was hard to say whether his mindset had become more objective or simply that his mindset was constantly switching, and he had stumbled upon a lucky event.

But the process of answering these questions does indeed align with normal, objective thinking... although it's not exactly standard.

Try again?

"Try this test paper."

Since this was just a simple test, Manus wrote twenty multiple-choice questions and ten true/false questions on a piece of parchment, along with a quill pen, and gave it to Barty Jr., asking him:

"Did you just pass this test?"

"No, I passed the first time at the end of April, then tried again but failed, and it wasn't until late May that things started to stabilize."

Barty Jr. answered while marking his choices, and Manus nodded.

This choice is quite rational and objective, and it even proactively eliminates extreme and accidental events... However, judging from Barty Jr.'s description, this change in mindset was not initially a genuine shift towards rationality.

Fortunately, it seems that through repeated training and testing, it can be stabilized in the direction of Rational Thinking?

"Alright."

After Barty Jr. finished, Manus saw the blue light appearing above him and knew he had passed. He nodded with satisfaction.

"It actually works... Excellent, I agree to admit you into the School!"

It must be said that Barty Jr.. was indeed a pleasant surprise. Even if it had been successful, Manus had not expected that his mindset could be changed so quickly—this was much more difficult than correcting Pettigrew's psychological problems.

This is a deeper, more fundamental difference in mindset.

"So I can have my own new Wand and cloak too?"