Thanks to the Daoist Order's Calm and Focus pills, Zhang Xiao finally recovered. He had to admit that this method of training really put his wallet to the test.
There were potions that could achieve much the same effect, such as a Calming Draught combined with an Invigoration Draught.
The former was extremely difficult and complicated to brew, often appearing as the final major question on Potions certification exams-and even then, the Ministry of Magic provided all the ingredients. An Invigoration Draught was neither expensive nor cheap, but the combined price was anything but low.
At least, an ordinary wizarding family could not afford it regularly. It was like a high-end seafood buffet: you could grit your teeth and pay for a meal, but eating there twice a week...
Time continued to pass, but many things quietly began to change.
Harry and Ron had fallen out with Hermione again. This time, the reason was simple: as one of the school's acknowledged top students, Hermione had homework that many young wizards desperately wanted to get their hands on.
The two boys tried and failed to consult-or rather, copy-Hermione's homework. The young witch told them firmly:
"Homework only does you any good if you do it yourself! This is for your own good!"
Ron thought Hermione was not being much of a "mate." Harry did not say so outright, but silently agreed, and so their cold war began.
"Zhang, how could Hermione do this? It's just homework! Homework! We're supposed to be mates!
"Is it some family heirloom of hers?"
Ron's face flushed crimson, and even his freckles seemed to glow red. To him, Hermione's refusal felt like a terrible betrayal.
Harry nodded in heartfelt agreement. Quidditch practice took up so much of his time that he had been counting on catching up on his homework over the weekend. Now he could not even find enough time to rush through it.
Zhang Xiao covered his face, at a complete loss for words. Having been a top student himself in his previous life, he understood Hermione's mindset all too well.
When his childhood deskmate, Er Ya, had wanted to copy his homework, he had said exactly the same thing. Back then, his heart had been full of a sense of responsibility to do right by his friend... and admiration for his own kindness.
At the same time, though, he now understood Ron's mindset too. What were mates? Mates put friendship first, regardless of right or wrong.
Even if there were mountains of blades and seas of fire ahead, even if you were surrounded by the spiders you feared most, even if supporting you put their entire family in danger.
They would still charge ahead without hesitation. Even if they left for a while, they would ultimately come back.
That was what being mates meant to Ron.
Was this going to end with Hermione crying in the bathroom and Harry and Ron bravely fighting a Troll again?
Zhang Xiao rubbed his forehead. Lately, he had kept getting a strange feeling, as though some immense, invisible force was pushing everything back onto its original course.
Harry and Ron were arguing with Hermione again. Malfoy had reverted to his old, gloomy self and kept avoiding him.
Although there was no obvious bullying among Slytherin's first-years, undercurrents ran through the entire house, and the older students were bullying their classmates more viciously than ever.
Whenever they did it, they would glance toward Zhang Xiao, seemingly casually, as though hoping he would rush over of his own accord.
Older students who attacked younger ones first faced severe punishment under school rules. They did not dare-but if a younger student provoked them first...
Zhang Xiao felt as though he had changed a great deal, yet also as though he had changed nothing at all.
Was the timeline converging, or did the world inside the books simply refuse to be changed?
Or was it... inertia?
Like a spring that only changed while he exerted force on it, then snapped back the moment he let go?
The thought actually sent a chill through Zhang Xiao.
Ron and Harry had only sought Zhang Xiao out to complain. After saying goodbye to them, he returned to the common room alone.
Malfoy was squeezed onto a sofa with a crowd of pure-bloods, holding forth and occasionally bursting into loud laughter. When he saw Zhang Xiao come in, he instinctively started to greet him.
But then he turned his face away and stared at Pansy Parkinson instead, as though she were some peerless beauty he could not bear to look away from.
A somewhat shrill female voice suddenly spoke.
"Well, if it isn't Zhang. You don't look very happy. What's wrong?
"Did you fall out with your penniless friend, your idiot friend, your Mudblood friend, and, most importantly... your orphan friend?"
Daphne Greengrass tapped her wand against her palm, a delighted smile on her face. Her eyes, however, were terrifyingly cold. It was hard to imagine an eleven-year-old child having such a venomous gaze.
If she could, Daphne would have had her father torture him with the Cruciatus Curse a hundred times over!
That day, this self-proclaimed Eastern noble had shocked her with some strange spell. Who could have imagined that one little shock would make a noble pure-blood like her lose control of her bladder in front of Mudbloods?
What a humiliation. She had lost every scrap of dignity in front of everyone.
All this time, Daphne had thought of nothing but revenge, dreaming up every possible way to torture him.
At last, her opportunity had arrived!
As though they had heard some hilarious joke, the pure-bloods erupted into laughter. Pansy Parkinson even rocked back and forth, wiping tears away with the pad of her index finger.
Malfoy forced a faint smile onto his pale face, trying to join in, but his mouth kept twitching. The conflicting expressions made his whole face look distorted.
"Is it funny?" Zhang Xiao watched them expressionlessly. The crushing pressure he had felt earlier had now turned into a vicious blaze of anger that almost consumed him.
"Daphne Greengrass, who gave you the nerve?"
Zhang Xiao's gaze swept over them, pausing briefly on the wands lying beside their hands.
"Was it them?"
Zhang Xiao drew his wand, and the dozen or so pure-bloods immediately tensed. His performance in Charms had been far too outstanding. Without safety in numbers, none of them would have dared face him alone.
Even though the older students had sworn up and down that first-years barely knew any offensive spells-or, rather, that the school did not teach combat spells at all.
"I once read a novel. Its protagonist was a Muggle-born wizard, but he was sorted into Slytherin. He was delighted and wanted to make friends with his classmates..."
Zhang Xiao stroked his wand, speaking as though to himself.
"But all he got in return was 'Mudblood.' So the Muggle-born wizard knocked the boy down, on the very first night of school..."
The pure-blood wizards grew increasingly nervous. Their fingers tightened around their wands until their knuckles began to whiten, while they frantically tried to work out who fit the story Zhang Xiao was telling.
"After that, he suffered more and more attacks, more and more insults. So he started fighting them, one year at a time, sending entire year groups to the Hospital Wing...
"Only after he wiped out the entire Shafiq family did Slytherin finally learn respect."
Among the older students watching, several members of the Shafiq family stood rooted to the spot. What? Our family was wiped out? When did that happen? Why didn't we know?
Daphne Greengrass finally buckled under the immense pressure. "Ah!" she screamed, her pretty face twisting into something demonic. Driven by hatred, she hurled a spell that flashed with deep blue light.
Several faces in the crowd instantly changed. Had Daphne gone mad? She was actually using her family's Dark Magic!
Some even drew their wands, ready to intervene. They would have enjoyed seeing Zhang Xiao taught a lesson-after all, this noble from China was nothing like them.
But if he was seriously injured, they would have a major problem. They had agreed beforehand to use only minor jinxes and make him embarrass himself in Slytherin. Who could have known that a woman would throw all caution aside once she went mad? Add fanaticism and arrogance to the mix... and things could get ugly!
Dark Magic was fueled by emotion in the first place. Daphne's hatred of Zhang Xiao had allowed her to unleash power far beyond her usual ability. Many of the older students were not confident they could withstand that blow, let alone Zhang Xiao.
The Thunderstruck Wood Wand traced an elegant curve. "Protego!" The Shield Charm sprang into place.
The blue spell struck the Shield Charm with a hissing sound, but was ultimately deflected into a table lamp. With a sizzling noise, more than half the lamp melted away, twisting into a grotesque shape.
Both the lamp and the Shield Charm made quite a few older students' faces twitch violently. This seemed... perhaps... a little beyond the curriculum! (Note 1)
Zhang Xiao raised his wand as though he had noticed nothing.
"I used to think that, although his approach was the best choice under the circumstances, there had to be a better way. For example... making friends with you and slowly changing those outdated ideas... but-"
Zhang Xiao flicked his wand again, sharply. "Stupefy!" The Stunning Spell's scarlet light hissed through the air and struck Daphne, sending her flying before she fell unconscious to the floor.
His voice suddenly rose, carrying his anger, his frustration, and that vicious blaze that threatened to burn everything to ash.
"But I was wrong! You spineless bastards fear force, not virtue. You're just begging for a beating! Until you've been beaten into submission, there's no talking to you!"
Note 1: According to official canon, the disparities in the Wizarding World are greater than one might imagine. Many adult wizards cannot properly cast the Shield Charm and other commonly used offensive and defensive spells. Apart from his highly advanced Memory Charm, Lockhart had almost no magic worth mentioning-and he was a Ravenclaw graduate.
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