In the weeks after the Easter holidays, the young witches and wizards seemed to take their classes more seriously.
With less than two months left before the final exams, every professor was picking up the pace, and they were assigning considerably more homework than before.
Even Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins were much more focused during their study group sessions.
Of course, their newfound focus mainly showed in how often they asked Gerald questions.
Whenever Gerald finished explaining a key point of Transfiguration or a potion's ingredient ratios, Fred would promptly raise his hand, and nine times out of ten, his question had nothing to do with the exams.
"Gerald, would the cauldron explode if we replaced the transformation agent in Canary Creams with the swelling agent in Ton-Tongue Toffee?"
Meanwhile, George secretly took notes beside him, his handwriting so messy that only he could read it.
After returning from his visit to Flitwick, Gerald had spent several days practicing Sectumsempra in the Room of Requirement.
His method was to target the enchanted dummies used for spell practice.
The results were clear. At the very least, he could now cast Sectumsempra with every flick of his wand, rather than having it work intermittently like the Six Meridian Divine Sword.
As for how powerful it was, he honestly wasn't sure.
No matter how many targets he sliced apart, they couldn't reveal its true effects. Sectumsempra's most important feature, the curse that prevented wounds from healing, could only be tested on living creatures.
With no other choice, he tried using mice he had conjured through Transfiguration, but they were instantly sliced in half. He still couldn't tell whether the spell's crucial curse component had taken effect.
He also considered finding a fantastic beast in the Forbidden Forest to test it on,