Tris felt a little nervous facing Professor Flitwick, worried that he would prescribe another round of extra practice.
He insisted that his daily quota of grinding was already high enough. He did not need another helping.
Seeing this, Professor Flitwick smiled. "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. I actually wanted to conduct a magical experiment, and I need your assistance."
"Assistance with a magical experiment? Me?" Tris pointed at his own nose, looking utterly bewildered.
Who the hell did I think I was?
Was I even qualified?
Tris now had a system and a rather powerful skill-Thought Maze. He considered himself capable of taking the top spot among the first-years.
But compared with Flitwick, he was in an entirely different league.
Professor Flitwick certainly did not know about the system. Could he have learned that Tris could block other minds from probing his own?
The Sorting Hat had mistakenly believed that he had mastered Occlumency, and it probably would not have kept that information from Headmaster Dumbledore. It would be perfectly normal for Dumbledore to tell the professors.
Still, approaching him over that did not seem to make sense either.
Only after coming to this world had Tris realized just how incredible the Hogwarts professors were-excluding this year's and next year's Professors of Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course.
Professor Flitwick, standing before him now, was a perfect example.
Tris had seen his name and photograph in newspapers and books more than once.
A leading researcher in modern charms, a pioneer of practical combat magic, a three-time Europe Wizarding Dueling Championship winner, a one-time European-American Wizarding Dueling Masters champion, a goodwill ambassador between wizards and demi-humans...
Written out, his titles were longer than he was tall...
Becoming a Head of House at Hogwarts was no joke.
What sort of magic could someone like that possibly research with a nobody like him?
Seeing Tris's puzzled expression, Professor Flitwick explained, "Don't worry, you won't have to do much. As I understand it, your wand is yew with a dragon heartstring core, correct?"
Tris nodded.
That combination was not particularly unusual.
When he bought his wand, he had thought that, as a transmigrator with a system, he might get something extraordinarily rare. The result had been a huge disappointment.
What had also surprised him was that Mr. Ollivander did not think much of wand cores other than phoenix feather, unicorn hair, and dragon heartstring.
At the time, Tris had grumbled inwardly, The wizarding world's three starter options, huh?
As for things like Thestral tail hair, basilisk nerves, and werewolf hair, which he had seen in short videos in his previous life, the shop did stock them. But they were all old pieces left by Ollivander's ancestors.
Every wand Ollivander made himself used one of the big three.
He, Harry, Ron, and even Charlie had bought four new wands there that day, all using one of those three cores.
"Here's the situation," Professor Flitwick said, raising his hand to reveal an unusually shaped wand. "This is my wand: aspen with a dragon heartstring core. It is particularly good at casting charms."
Dragon heartstring?
Tris froze, immediately thinking of a possibility.
"Professor, could it be...?"
"Yes." Professor Flitwick smiled and nodded. "Our wands use heartstrings from the same Hebridean Black, so the two can be considered Brother Wands."
Tris's expression turned peculiar.
Brother Wands?
One of the central threads of the Harry Potter world was a pair of Twin Wands.
Two wands made with feathers from the same phoenix-Dumbledore's Fawkes-with one in the Dark Lord's hands and the other in the hands of the Chosen One.
They were practically a light-and-dark pairing between the Chosen One and a world-destroying demon king.
And now another pair had appeared?
Considering how widespread wands were and how many dragons existed, it was perfectly reasonable for one dragon to provide enough heartstring for more than one wand.
Still, for them to end up in his hands and a professor's made Tris feel that the wizarding world was damn small.
Seeing Tris staring blankly, Flitwick continued, "Ollivander is an old friend of mine. We previously explored a theory that two wands sharing the same source might produce a special linking effect.
"This effect has appeared a few times throughout history, but the records are all rather vague. It is only likely to occur when the wielders are opposing each other.
"And wizarding combat is never entirely safe, even in an arena. Private duels have an especially high death rate. As a result, the data available to us is extremely limited.
"We've always wanted to research it, but we lacked a sample. And now you're here!" Professor Flitwick's eyes shone as he spoke.
"When Garrick told me, we were both terribly excited. We've been hoping you would arrive at Hogwarts sooner. Praise Merlin, you're finally here."
"Ah... Professor, so you'd like me to help you study the special connection between two wands that share the same source?" Tris asked.
"Yes." Flitwick nodded. "It won't take up much of your time. We only need to choose one afternoon each week, for an hour or two."
Tris was not particularly willing.
Hogwarts assigned no small amount of homework, and he also had the grinding tasks from his system.
He hardly had time to spare!
Besides, you're a distinguished professor and Head of House, asking a student like me for help, and you aren't even mentioning compensation?
Although he had heard in his previous life that postgraduate students worked for their bosses-their professors-for free in laboratories, sometimes even paying out of their own pockets, Tris had no desire to be that selfless.
Still, bringing it up himself did not seem quite appropriate.
Tris put on a conflicted, hesitant expression.
As the Head of Ravenclaw, a house renowned for its wisdom, Flitwick naturally possessed extraordinary intelligence.
Seeing Tris neither refuse nor agree, but instead look awkward and conflicted, he immediately guessed what was on his mind.
Flitwick did not mind. Goblins placed great importance on equivalent exchange-although they always determined the value themselves. With some goblin ancestry of his own, Flitwick very much agreed with that principle.
He immediately said with a smile, "Of course, I wouldn't expect your help for nothing. Though the Weasley family is an ancient clan, I am aware of its current circumstances.
"I imagine you don't have easy access to certain profound magical techniques and theories at present?"
Tris's eyes lit up.
That reward went a little beyond his expectations.
He had originally thought Professor Flitwick might simply reduce his homework a little, or offer some extra help with his future O.W.L. examinations. Further down the line, perhaps he would ease his entry into advanced classes, though Tris did not think he would need that.
But now Flitwick seemed to be saying that he was willing to teach him some of the wizarding world's secrets.
Seeing Tris's reaction, Flitwick immediately knew his offer had hit the mark. He smiled in satisfaction. "It seems you're pleased?"
"Yes, Professor. It would truly be an honor to contribute to magical research," Tris said solemnly, delivering the proper platitudes.
"Ha ha, what an amusing child." Flitwick laughed heartily and, standing on the desk, patted Tris on the shoulder. "I'll let you know once I've arranged a time.
"Now, go about your business. Don't be late for class."
Tris nodded, then turned to hurry off to History of Magic.
Slytherin took History of Magic with Ravenclaw, and their professor was a ghost who did nothing but recite the textbook. It was truly dull.
Moreover, to accommodate Professor Binns, a ghost incapable of progressing-after all, a professor who needed little rest and no salary was quite a rare find-Hogwarts had left the textbook largely unchanged for centuries.
Although history consisted of established facts, uncovering history was a dynamic process.
New discoveries could overturn old conclusions at any time. There was no telling how many errors lurked in a history textbook that had gone unchanged for centuries.
On that basis, Tris quite naturally paid little attention to History of Magic, directing his attention toward his classmates instead.
Although the material in their earlier Charms lesson had been simple, Tris had studied and practiced very seriously. He had barely paid attention to the others, only glancing around a couple of times near the end.
But History of Magic... Not falling asleep was already the greatest respect Tris could offer.
The girls in this year were quite a good-looking bunch, weren't they?
Tris's roving eyes swept over the young girls in the classroom, and he soon reached that conclusion.
On the Slytherin side, Daphne was a beauty in the making. Pansy also had delicate features, provided she stopped looking down her nose at everyone. Sophie Roper and Tracey Davis more than qualified as having pleasant features. The only one he could not compliment was Millicent Bulstrode.
Tris and Ron were definitely tall for their age, but Millicent, despite being a girl, was slightly taller than both of them.
And unlike the tall, skinny Ron or the lean, sturdy Tris, Millicent was fat. With her large face, broad jaw, and habit of glaring, she really could not be called pretty.
The situation over in Hufflepuff was even better than in Slytherin.
Although Tris did not think any of their four girls were as pretty as Daphne, Susan and Hannah's round, smiling faces were still very cute.
Lily Moon and Megan Jones definitely qualified as pretty girls.
As for Ravenclaw, even setting aside Padma, one of the Patil Sisters, who was already being tentatively hailed by the boys as the prettiest girl in their year, Mandy Brocklehurst and Amanda Abara were certainly pretty too.
Thinking back to the girls he had seen sorted into Gryffindor during the Sorting Ceremony, Tris felt that calling the overall standard high was entirely justified.
History of Magic was followed by Herbology.
In a little garden, dig, dig, dig...
They also had an Astronomy lesson on Wednesday night.
I'll watch the meteor shower with you as it falls upon the earth...
For their other subjects, the year was divided into two classes, but the entire year attended Astronomy together.
That made sense. Although the stars followed much the same course every night, there were still differences when studying them as an academic subject.
For one thing, what if a meteor happened to appear during an observation?
Were they supposed to pray that another meteor would happen to appear during the next lesson?
Not to mention that Hogwarts Castle only had one Astronomy Tower, shared by seven years. With classes held only five days a week, there already were not enough slots.
The first three days of their first week flew by.
On Thursday morning, Tris waited by the Hogwarts Castle entrance until Harry and Ron arrived, yawning.
"I can understand Ron being like this," Tris said, looking at the two bleary-eyed boys in puzzlement. "But Harry, you spent over a month going on morning runs with me during the holidays. Why are you still like this in the morning?"
"Seamus got us to play Exploding Snap yesterday, and we stayed up too late," Harry said, letting out another long yawn. "That's it. I'm never playing again. It takes up too much time."
"Right. Have you finished all your homework?" The question suddenly occurred to Tris.
Over the past few days, he had seen Harry and Ron wandering around Hogwarts Castle after their afternoon classes more than once.
When asked, they grandly claimed they were familiarizing themselves with Hogwarts Castle's layout so they would not be unable to find their classrooms. In reality, they were just playing around. But in that case, their homework...
"Homework? Isn't it due next week?" Ron asked, puzzled. "We've got a whole weekend to finish it. I worked it out, and we don't have that much so far."
Tris gave a couple of dry chuckles and said nothing.
Indeed, they did not have that much homework yet.
Professor Flitwick had assigned very little written work. Although the star chart for Astronomy was difficult to draw, the professor had already guided them through sketching its outline in class. Filling it in from the book was easy enough.
The Herbology homework was only moderate in volume. At present, History of Magic was the only subject with a heavy workload.
Viewed that way, the two boys' reasoning was indeed sound.
The problem was that three major subjects were still to come.
Defense Against Dark Magic might currently be a joke under Quirrell, and he probably would not assign much homework. But Transfiguration and Potions were guaranteed heavy hitters.
At that thought, Tris could not help giving the two a sympathetic look.
Of course, he had no intention of reminding them.
People could lecture you all day and teach you nothing; experience only needed to teach you once!
I'm doing this for their own good! Tris thought with absolute conviction.