Afternoon classes were History of Magic, with Ravenclaw and Slytherin learning together. Sitting diagonally in front of Wade was a boy with pale blonde hair, accompanied by two chubby hangers-on. Wade recognized the boy as Draco Malfoy, the minor antagonist from the original story who had a seven-year rivalry with the protagonist. However, Slytherin and Ravenclaw generally got along, and Malfoy wasn't one to spray venom at everyone he met. On the contrary, aside from his somewhat arrogant tone and his tendency to subtly flaunt his family background and wealth, he was quite polite in class.
But his attitude towards his nemesis, Harry Potter, was certainly different.
When Professor Binns floated through the wall and appeared in the classroom, Malfoy was still badmouthing Harry Potter to his cronies: "He's always showing off that scar on his head, as if it's something amazing—and he hangs around with those stinky Weasleys, covered in the smell of their poverty—"
The surrounding Ravenclaws glanced over, quietly distancing themselves from the Slytherins.
—Regardless of the future, for now, Harry Potter was still a hero in the eyes of many Wizards, and most of these children in school had basically grown up hearing his stories. Draco Malfoy's words naturally caused some discomfort, while also reminding others of certain facts that had been obscured.
"I heard Malfoy—I mean Draco Malfoy's father—was a Death Eater who followed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Michael whispered to Wade. "They say after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated by Harry Potter, his father claimed he was under the Imperius Curse and donated a large sum of money to the Ministry of Magic, which is how he escaped imprisonment. Looking at him, it's clear his father still resents Harry Potter for defeating his master, so he's been influenced by that..."
Wade shook his head inwardly. He knew Draco Malfoy certainly hadn't thought that far ahead; he seemed to have initially wanted to be friends with Harry Potter, but his arrogant attitude led to Harry Potter humiliating him—and how could an arrogant young master ever tolerate such an indignity? Thus, he persistently opposed the savior ever since.
"Don't take it lightly, and don't get close to Malfoy," Michael warned. "Their family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight that cares most about blood purity."
"The Sacred Twenty-Eight?" This was a blind spot in Wade's knowledge.
"It's twenty-eight Pure-blood families, with no Muggle ancestors, and no one in the family has married a Muggle," Michael said indifferently. "But my dad says it's all nonsense, because many of the families on the list actually have Muggle ancestors, or they claim to have Muggle ancestors."
...
It had to be said, History of Magic was indeed an utterly boring class. This was because Professor Binns, the ghost teaching them, lectured verbatim in a hypnotic voice, never asking questions, never caring what the students were doing, and speaking with a wheezing sound and an unclear tone. Within five minutes, half the students in the classroom had their heads down, and the remaining half were either dozing off or secretly drawing grids on their parchment for board games.
Wade, however, blocked out Professor Binns's hypnotic voice and drew a timeline on paper, listing important dates, historical figures, and major events in Wizarding history—these were also what the Wizarding World's History of Magic exams tested. Wade also had a copy of Hogwarts: A History borrowed from the library on his desk. Comparing the two, one couldn't help but wonder what grand adventures and struggles the four founders of Hogwarts had in history, and what role Hogwarts played in the thousand-plus years that followed.
History itself was actually very interesting; it was just Professor Binns who made the class utterly charmless.
As soon as class ended, Professor Binns's voice cut off abruptly, and he slowly floated through the wall and away. Wade woke Michael, and the two went to the library together to complete their History of Magic assignment—an essay on the terrifying reign of Emeric the Evil, one foot long.
"No one in all of Hogwarts is more diligent than you," Michael muttered as he wrote his assignment. "I bet all the other students will wait until the last day to do their homework!"
No sooner had he spoken than a swaying figure passed by the two of them—Hermione, clutching a thick stack of books. Seeing Wade, she stopped, placing the books on the table with a thud that Michael felt shook the entire desk.
"Hi, Wade." Hermione greeted him, then sat right down and asked, "How's Ravenclaw?"
"Nothing bad, except for too many stairs to climb," Wade said, introducing them. "Hermione, this is Michael Corner. Michael, this is Hermione Granger; we met on the train."
"Hello," Hermione said, possessing the fierce enthusiasm of a young lion. She extended her hand directly: "Are you also Ravenclaw?"
Michael looked at the height of the stack of books, swallowed, shook her hand, and hesitated: "P-possibly?"
In front of these two, he deeply felt that he might not be worthy of calling himself a Ravenclaw.
"—Possibly?" Hermione frowned.
Feeling the bloodline suppression of some kind of food chain, Michael inexplicably seemed to shrink a bit. He whispered, "May I ask... why do you have so many books? You're not going to read them all, are you?"
"Of course! These are the books I plan to finish this week," Hermione said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Michael's face turned ashen. He asked Wade with his eyes—What's going on? This week? Even more competitive than you?
Wade raised an eyebrow slightly at him.
Michael stopped complaining about Wade dragging him to do homework and lowered his head, focusing on the remaining part of his essay. Wade, who had already finished his essay, continued working on his timeline.
"Oh, your method is quite useful," Hermione leaned over for a look and suggested, "But I think it would be even more insightful if you combined it with Muggle history."
"Hmm, I plan to add that later." Wade pushed his completed portion towards her for her to see. "You've read more books than I have, could you help me check if the first part needs any revisions?"
"Let me see." Hermione didn't decline. After carefully reading it through, she said, "Here, the exact date of the wand's creation is unknown. Melaina Simms's main contribution was researching the magical properties of eighteen wand woods and proposing the wand adaptability theory and Simms' Formula..."
She pulled a book from her stack and flipped through it, rustling the pages. "In 382 BC, the Ollivander Family began making wands. To this day, the best wandmakers are still from the Ollivander family. I think that's also something that could be on the exam..."
Quill pens rapidly recorded on parchment. Madam Pince occasionally cast vigilant glances their way, seemingly ready to kick them out if they made too much noise.
Meanwhile, Michael, rushing to finish his essay, only felt himself growing smaller and smaller. After listening for a while, he silently pulled out a piece of paper, preparing to copy Wade's revised History of Magic timeline. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He nudged Wade with his elbow and whispered, "Look!"
Theo was peeking around the library door. He had probably just returned from Herbology class and still had greenhouse dirt on him, so Madam Pince wouldn't let them in. Catching Wade and Michael's eye, Theo happily waved, motioning for them to come out.
Wade said goodbye to Hermione, packed up with Michael, and headed out. Seeing Ryan and Theo by the door, looking quite dirty, he asked, "Is there something urgent?"
The two Hufflepuffs exchanged a glance. Ryan gestured with his chin: "You tell him, you're the one who asked Professor Sprout."
Theo chuckled, "Wade, didn't you say this morning you wanted a quiet place to practice spells? Professor Sprout, our Herbology teacher, is the Head of Hufflepuff. After class, I stayed behind to help her, and then I bravely asked—"
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