Halloween eve

When Harry used his magical senses for the first time, everything around him seemed to change.

Translucent threads drifted freely through the air all around him. The young Gryffindor witches and wizards within sight had changed too. A thin, mistlike layer of light now covered their bodies.

These layers of light were white, and their thickness and intensity varied from person to person.

Hermione, who was sitting in a corner like Harry but had her nose buried in a hefty book, had a layer of magic less than a centimeter thick. The other first-years looked much the same.

Hmm, Ron, who was fooling around with his two older brothers in the crowd, seemed to have a slightly thicker layer. Neville, who was working hard to memorize his textbook beside Hermione, seemed to have a slightly thicker one too.

The white light around the second-years was noticeably thicker, measuring just under an inch, and it was denser than that of the first-years. The third-years had even thicker, denser layers, with the twins having the thickest of all.

In fact, the white light around the twins was denser than that of some fourth-years.

While the differences among students below fifth year were clear but not particularly enormous, the sixth- and seventh-years were far ahead of the younger students.

Harry noticed that, among the fifth-years, Percy had the densest white light. He was standing at one side of the common room, frowning at the students who were running wild.

The white layer around him was a full seven inches thick, more than a quarter stronger than that of most fifth-years.

Yet almost every sixth-year in the common room had a white layer more than a foot and a half thick. The seventh-years' layers were nearly two feet thick.

The gap between fifth and sixth year was enormous, and the gap between sixth and seventh year was even greater.

Apart from the white light, there was also something between their eyebrows.

Every young witch and wizard had a golden ball of light between their eyebrows.

Calling it a ball of light was not quite accurate. On closer inspection, it was actually the outline of a tiny person. This was more obvious in students from third year onward.

The tiny figures bore a faint but strong resemblance to the students themselves, and their movements changed with those of the students, almost perfectly in sync.

The little golden figures of the younger students were rather indistinct, mainly because they were too small to make out. Those of the sixth- and seventh-years were already about three inches tall and could be seen fairly clearly.

One thing that caught Harry's attention was the little figure of light between Neville's eyebrows. Although it was larger than those of his peers, it seemed somewhat insubstantial. It appeared to be trembling slightly all the time.

Could this be why Neville had such a poor memory?

Harry set the matter of Neville aside for the moment and raised his hand, ready to examine himself.

Hmm...

A faint smile appeared on his face.

The white layer of light covering his body was magic, while the golden point of light between the eyebrows was mental power. The magic covering his own body was a little over two centimeters thick. Although there was still a gap between him and the second-years, he had already clearly surpassed the other first-years.

It seemed that Neil's meditation method was quite effective. Before coming to Hogwarts, he had hardly ever felt his magic increase. Yet after just over a month at Hogwarts, his growth in magic had already far outstripped that of his peers.

This was wonderful. Harry was very pleased.

Unfortunately, he could not see the golden ball of light between his own eyebrows.

This also sparked a little curiosity in him. With such an enormous gap between the sixth- and seventh-years and the younger students, what would the professors' magic look like?

Professor McGonagall must be really powerful. At lunchtime today, she'd used magic effortlessly without a wand or an incantation!

Professor Flitwick should be very powerful too. Apparently, he'd been a regular at international wizarding dueling tournaments when he was younger, and he'd won several championships. The short professor's performance in class also demonstrated his profound understanding of the very essence of magic.

As for Snape, who strutted around all day as though everyone owed him eight or ten thousand Galleons, he couldn't be all that strong. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to bully students all day to feel superior, Harry thought, not without malice.

Oh, right, there was also Dumbledore, supposedly the strongest wizard in the entire United Kingdom, if not all of Europe. How big would his layer of magic be? Could it be bigger than a room?

On Sunday, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team trained for half a day before Slytherin took over the pitch.

Wood grumbled, looking thoroughly displeased, but everyone else felt as though a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Their older teammate's training sessions were simply too intense!

In the blink of an eye, Harry had been at Hogwarts for almost two months. What struck him most was that there was more and more homework, and his classes were getting harder and harder.

As the teachers in every subject kept piling on the work, staying up until midnight to finish homework became a common occurrence. The wizarding world apparently had no child protection laws or anything of the sort, which Harry considered regrettable.

But as the vast world of magic gradually revealed a glimpse of its true nature to the young witches and wizards, showing them its wonders little by little, they all felt fulfilled despite their exhaustion.

This was probably what people meant by being tired but happy.

One morning, while checking the calendar, Harry discovered that Halloween was just around the corner.

Back on Privet Drive, every Halloween, Harry, Dudley, and a few other little troublemakers would paint their faces as all sorts of monsters, hang trick-or-treat signs around their necks, and go from door to door throughout the neighborhood asking for sweets.

Since Harry was the best-looking and usually had the sweetest tongue, he always collected the most sweets.