"Kurkan, what's wrong?"
Sean noticed Kurkan's unusual behavior immediately. He quickly reached out to stroke Kurkan's head and body, trying to calm it down, but Kurkan seemed startled, still warily staring in one direction, hissing continuously.
While soothing Kurkan, Sean began to think. He soon realized that Kurkan's strange behavior was likely related to the Basilisk. Based on Sean's vague recollection, the Basilisk had probably already been released by now, though it wouldn't strike until the night of Halloween.
After more than ten minutes, Kurkan finally calmed down from its agitated state.
Sean continued to stroke Kurkan gently. Slowly, Kurkan coiled back around Sean's body, its grip slightly tighter than usual, as if protecting him. Fortunately, Sean's physical strength was comparable to half a troll, so he didn't feel any pain. If it had been an ordinary person, they might have been injured.
After calming Kurkan, Sean placed it on his bed to let it rest.
Sean then sat at his desk, resuming his reading while thinking about Kurkan's behavior.
He had observed Kurkan closely during its episode, and its reaction was far from that of an ordinary snake. A regular snake would either fail to sense the Basilisk's presence entirely or show submission upon encountering it. For a snake to sense the Basilisk from far away, through multiple walls, and display defiance and intimidation—that was no ordinary snake.
Oh well, no matter what, Kurkan's bond with me won't change. If anything comes up, I'll deal with it when the time comes.
With that thought, Sean let out a breath and continued working through the reading list.
The rest of September passed peacefully at Hogwarts. The students had mostly adjusted to life back at school after the holidays, throwing themselves into their endless studies.
For Sean, at least, the studying truly felt endless.
Compared to the previous term, this term lacked Flying lessons, which made things easier for many students. But that relief didn't extend to Sean.
This term, he had joined the Firwood Club. While the Firwood Club's requirements weren't overly strict, and Professor McGonagall didn't enforce specific assignments or readings, the club held monthly assessments. If a student failed to show progress or results that satisfied McGonagall, they risked being asked to leave the club.
So, while the Firwood Club seemed more relaxed than the Potions Club, the time it demanded was no less.
"Very impressive Transfiguration, Sean," Professor McGonagall said, nodding approvingly as she inspected a wardrobe Sean had transfigured from a beetle. Compared to the start of term, Sean could now reliably enlarge objects with Transfiguration, though the degree of enlargement was still modest. However, It was a promising start.
After all, at Hogwarts, only nine students were part of the Firwood Club. Most students lagged far behind in Transfiguration. Those who could consistently master the second level of Transfiguration were already considered quite skilled, while those who reached the third level were exceptional, second only to the club's members.
It was only after diving deeper into Transfiguration that Sean realized how remarkable it was that Harry's father, James, and Sirius Black had managed to complete their Animagus transformations while still at school. Even Peter Pettigrew, had considerable talent in Transfiguration.
Speaking of Peter Pettigrew, Sean had already marked him as a problem to address. However, this year was already packed with issues—the Basilisk, the diary, and Lockhart—so Sean decided to postpone dealing with Pettigrew until next year. Next year, when Pettigrew learned of Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban, he would flee the Gryffindor common room, providing the perfect opportunity to handle him.
Leaving the Firwood Club classroom, Sean and Aiden headed toward the Slytherin common room.
As they reached the first floor, they spotted Lockhart, who was "patrolling" but, in reality, showing off. Lockhart noticed Sean and Aiden, but before they could approach, he quickly turned a corner and disappeared.
Aiden shook his head with a laugh. "Sean, Lockhart's scared of you."
Over the past month, Sean had made a point of challenging Lockhart in every Defense Against the Dark Arts class. After the first lesson, Lockhart might have thought he could outmaneuver Sean, but Sean bested him twice more in duels during subsequent classes. By then, Lockhart realized Sean had seen through his façade. All his boasts were just lies to cover his incompetence, and Sean was deliberately exposing him.
From that point on, Lockhart began avoiding Sean. To keep Sean at bay, Lockhart consistently gave him top marks, but he ignored Sean's comments in class and fled whenever he saw him outside of lessons.
With Lockhart acting like this, Sean was at a loss.
He couldn't exactly chase Lockhart down with his wand and demand a duel—that wouldn't be a duel; it'd be assaulting a professor!
Watching Lockhart scurry away, Sean knew that if he wanted to learn Lockhart's Memory Charm, he'd need to resort to some extreme measures. Fortunately, Lockhart would eventually join Harry and the others in the Chamber of Secrets. That would be Sean's chance to make a move and "acquire" the Memory Charm.
Unfortunately, Sean's system wasn't like a game. A person's understanding of a spell was fixed, so even gaining the same spell ten or a hundred times from the same person wouldn't improve it unless their own mastery of the spell deepened.
Otherwise, Sean could just find someone who knew the Memory Charm and keep "farming" it to max out the spell.
Back in the Slytherin common room, Sean was about to head to his room when he noticed Blaise waiting at his door, looking serious. Sean hurried over and asked, "Blaise, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine," Blaise replied, "but Andy's in some kind of trouble."