By the time they returned to Hogwarts Castle, Harry was practically floating.
He was happy-so happy he could barely contain it.
When Sirius tentatively told Harry that he was his godfather, the light in Harry's eyes shone more than a hundred times brighter than his clumsy Lumos.
And when Sirius said that Harry could stay with him over Christmas and the summer holidays if he wanted, Harry nearly jumped for joy.
He didn't want to go back to the Dursley family at all. He had even decided not to return for Christmas, but to stay at Hogwarts instead.
Now, though, that plan had changed a little.
Tris noticed, but had no intention of spoiling Harry's good mood. He knew that Harry could only live with his aunt until he turned seventeen, because of the Blood Protection Charm.
But that wasn't something he was supposed to know, and he didn't want to upset Harry right now, so he kept quiet. Hadn't Professor McGonagall beside them said nothing either?
If Professor McGonagall wasn't going to speak up, why should he bother?
Back at Hogwarts Castle, Professor McGonagall glanced at the exuberant Harry and the equally excited Ron—he and Tris had also been invited to spend Christmas at Black Manor.
Seeing the two little idiots looking excessively delighted, Professor McGonagall chose just the right moment to throw cold water on their excitement. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, it may be a little early for you to get excited about Christmas.
"I'm not worried about the younger Mr. Weasley, but have you two finished your homework?"
Harry's and Ron's cheerful faces instantly darkened.
They had enjoyed chatting with Sirius a little too much and stayed longer than intended. Sirius had also been very hospitable and treated all four of them to a meal in Hogsmeade.
Half their Saturday was gone in a flash, and they hadn't even started their homework!
"Ah, my essay!" Ron wailed, turning and sprinting toward the library with Harry close behind.
Tris watched them and shook his head helplessly.
"Younger Mr. Weasley, I hope that as you improve, you won't focus solely on yourself. You should also help your fellow students along when you can," Professor McGonagall told Tris earnestly.
"I have high hopes for you."
Tris felt rather flattered by Professor McGonagall's words. Still, having the stronger students help the weaker ones was easier said than done.
Some friends really were impossible to drag along.
After a moment's thought, Tris nodded. "Of course, Professor. I'll pay more attention to that."
Professor McGonagall nodded, satisfied with his response, then turned and left.
Tris headed toward the library, following the direction Harry and Ron had gone. He hadn't finished today's competition yet. How should he play it today?
By the time Tris returned to the dormitory, he had already eaten dinner.
"Another whole day down the drain," Tris grumbled. On second thought, that wasn't quite right. He had finished all his homework and system tasks, after all.
There wasn't much time left, but he could still fit in a session of the Meditation Method. At worst, he could sleep until noon tomorrow.
With that thought, Tris quickly washed up and lay down on his bed. His mind sank into the depths of his consciousness, entering that boundless, pitch-black night sky once again...
As he meditated, his consciousness sank ever deeper. Pinpricks of starlight once again appeared in the pitch-black Sea of Meditative Consciousness.
This time, Tris didn't experience the same emotional fluctuations as before. His mind and emotions remained steady. As his meditation continued, the stars in the Sea of Meditative Consciousness grew ever more brilliant, finally becoming a galaxy that filled the sky...
When Tris opened his eyes again, he felt as though the world had undergone a subtle change.
It was difficult to describe. The whole world seemed a little friendlier, as though he could somehow communicate with heaven and earth.
What was going on?
Tris was a little astonished.
The Astral Meditation Method contained only instructions for cultivation, laid out in meticulous detail. To put it in Snape's words, anyone with a brain larger than a gnome's would certainly be able to understand and learn it.
But it didn't say a single word about what would happen once he succeeded.
That left Tris completely in the dark after finishing a round of cultivation. He had no idea what would happen, what should happen, or what was happening now.
He glanced to the side. Sure enough, both his roommates had returned and were fast asleep.
Then he checked the clock on the dormitory wall. Three in the morning.
He had begun meditating at around half past six the previous evening, so more than eight hours had passed. Yet in the world of meditation, it had felt as though only ten or twenty minutes had gone by-just enough to complete one full meditation session.
"That time ratio is a little extreme," Tris muttered. The difference was more than twentyfold.
He would have to investigate and see whether the ratio was just as large next time. If it always stayed that way, this really wasn't something he could use whenever he pleased.
Huh?
Not necessarily. If one session took eight hours, wouldn't that cover a night's sleep perfectly?
Tris climbed out of bed, taking particular care to keep quiet this time.
When he got up at six in the morning to exercise, he never bothered. That was when they were supposed to get up!
But it was only three in the morning now. Making too much noise would be downright inconsiderate.
He took stock of his physical condition and found that he felt surprisingly good.
His body felt light, and his mind was refreshed. It was even better than a full night of deep, dreamless sleep.
If that's the case, replacing sleep with meditation seems like a pretty good option, Tris thought. Feeling no drowsiness whatsoever, he simply got dressed, picked up two books, and went to the common room to study.
He had taken his Transfiguration textbook and a hefty volume on Transfiguration borrowed from the library.
Professor McGonagall was right: Transfiguration really was the most dangerous and complicated subject taught at school. Even with the help of the Thought Maze, Tris still wouldn't dare claim that he had fully mastered the knowledge in his textbook.
By the standards of a first-year, or even any student below third year, Tris was already exceptionally good. But he had never held himself to a student's standards.
What he needed was to be able to protect himself, at the very least, when he faced that noseless fellow in the highly probable future.
By that standard, he didn't have any time to spare.
That was why he devoted so much time and effort to Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against Dark Magic. Charms and Transfiguration were fine, really. Both professors were extremely reliable, and if Tris encountered any problems while studying on his own, he could ask them directly.
Both professors gave precise, efficient answers.
Defense Against Dark Magic was another matter. Anyone who knew about Quirrell knew the problem. It wasn't necessarily that his magical abilities were poor. The trouble was that he wouldn't teach properly.
Tris couldn't do anything about that, so he could only muddle through with self-study for now.
What left him feeling rather hopeless was that, if the plot remained unchanged, next year's Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts would be another fraud...
Few people had seen Los Angeles at three in the morning, and the common room at three in the morning was just as deserted. It was quiet and peaceful-perfect for reading and studying.
Tris read intently, but before long, he noticed something unusual.
His mind seemed particularly active today.
The masters of the Wizarding World were highly accomplished, but their books really were crap. Their wording was convoluted and their concepts abstract, as though they had built in a system to prevent anyone from teaching themselves.
Apparently terrified that people might not realize how brilliant they were, they could turn plain language into something nobody understood.
Although the Mind Palace awarded by the system had given Tris an exceptional memory, it hadn't granted him any extra reasoning ability. When reading these hefty volumes, he often had to puzzle over a single sentence at length before understanding what it meant.
Today, however, things were a little different.
Those previously obscure sentences seemed to spring to life. Tris felt that understanding them was somewhat easier than usual.
The difference wasn't huge, but it was definitely there.
"Huh?" Almost as soon as Tris noticed the change, he figured out its cause.
The Meditation Method.
He had originally thought that the Meditation Method merely increased the speed at which he cultivated his magic. Now it seemed there was more to it. He would have to pick up the pace of his research a little.
Putting those stray thoughts aside, Tris returned to his studies. Soon, he noticed another change: that unusually clearheaded feeling didn't last forever, but gradually faded with time.
After roughly an hour and a half, the feeling began to recede. After two hours, it had almost entirely disappeared.
"Does it have a time limit? Or is the effect not stable yet because this was my first meditation session? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't study for too long and need to balance work with rest?" Tris pondered.
It was nearly time for his morning workout, so Tris put down his books and left the common room.
The weather was decent—or at least it wasn't raining. Tris warmed up in front of Hogwarts Castle, waiting for Harry and Ron to come down. Pushing himself alone was no fun. Naturally, he had to bring others along.
But before Ron and Harry arrived, Cedric showed up.
"Morning, Tris. You work out every morning, huh?" Cedric broke into a radiant smile when he saw him.
"Cedric, how come I haven't seen you these past couple of days?" Tris nodded in greeting.
"I just started third year. I didn't expect the workload to jump so much." Cedric gave a wry smile. "There's so much homework, and the professors raised their requirements this week, too. I've been swamped."
Hmm...
Tris's gaze wandered.
He had actually heard that the older students' assignments had been sent back as well. Most people just hadn't connected the matter to him yet.
Had he accidentally dragged the entire school into competing harder?
Surely that wasn't his fault? He'd never intended anything like that. He'd just done his homework to the ordinary standard he was used to.
Exactly. That was all.
Tris reassured himself inwardly. As for the slight upward curl of his lips, that was purely accidental. It definitely wasn't because he had made the whole school work harder.
"I see. You start taking electives in third year, right? That would certainly make the workload heavier." Tris nodded.
"Exactly. Three more subjects really do add a lot of pressure." Cedric nodded, joining Tris in his warm-up exercises.
"By the way," Tris asked casually, "which three subjects did you choose?"
"Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy."
"Ancient Runes? I heard hardly anyone finishes that course?" Tris asked curiously.
Since arriving at Hogwarts, he had asked around about quite a few things at the school, including the female professor who had briefly dazzled him at the opening feast.
After learning that she taught Ancient Runes, he had looked into the subject.
To his surprise, he had discovered that it had the lowest completion rate of any course at Hogwarts. Of the students who chose it in third year, fewer than one in ten made it to the fifth-year O.W.L. exam.
More than half the students couldn't even make it through the first term.