[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
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Harry and the others had absolutely no confidence that Professor Quirrell could withstand Snape's pressure. Both Hermione and Ron were completely pessimistic.
So much so that, for a while, every time Ron saw Professor Quirrell, he would clench his fist and say "Come on!" to him.
Professor Quirrell appeared confused, it was obvious that he didn't understand what Ron meant.
However, Professor Quirrell's ability to handle pressure was somewhat beyond Harry's expectations.
In the following weeks, although he seemed increasingly pale and his mood worsened, he didn't appear as worn down as Harry and the others feared.
Moreover, judging by the fact that Snape was still speaking harshly and coldly to him, Snape had probably not gotten the better of him yet.
This made Harry and his friends feel relieved, and they also admired the young professor who seemed kind and easy to intimidate.
"I heard Professor Quirrell was originally selected for Ravenclaw, but I think he deserves Gryffindor as well," Ron said. Neville agreed.
Neville and Ron's academic performance notably improved after Christmas. Whether it was spells, potions, or the complicated details of herbology, both were able to remember things more clearly.
But for some reason, the two still didn't have much success casting magic. This meant that, besides Harry, who was doing homework with them, not even the professor noticed the changes.
Harry didn't understand this.
One time, he secretly used his magical senses to observe that Ron, Neville, and Hermione had significantly improved their magic and mental strength during this period. This improvement wasn't easy to notice by itself, but it was apparent when compared to others.
The magic and mental strength of the three obviously surpassed that of other students in the same year, especially Ron's magic and Neville's mental strength.
In this case, the two still couldn't use magic easily, and Harry thought there might be other reasons. He wanted to investigate.
One Saturday morning, after the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff.
Hufflepuff's strength had drastically dropped this year because some of their key players had just graduated, and others were entering their seventh year to prepare for exams. This year, it had become the house with the most noticeable gap between the four houses.
This situation was similar to Gryffindor's.
If it weren't for the appearances of Harry, Ron, and Katie Bell, Gryffindor would likely have been defeated by Slytherin and Ravenclaw this year.
However, although Hufflepuff had performed poorly, Wood felt they would be strong rivals in the future. This was because of their backup Seeker, a boy named Cedric.
This third-year boy, with fair skin, a cheerful and handsome appearance, had excellent flying skills. He had performed well in several practice matches.
It turned out that Hufflepuff's current Seeker was now the team captain and responsible for the tactics and field command, so Cedric hadn't had the chance to play yet. According to Wood, the current Hufflepuff captain was very stubborn. If he had switched to be a Chaser and let Cedric play, they might have won the match today.
However, when Wood said this, his voice was very low, as if he was afraid others might hear him, after Easter, Gryffindor would play against Hufflepuff again, and Wood clearly didn't want Cedric to play at that time.
Since that was the day of the open house in Hogsmeade, as soon as the game ended, the older students hurriedly left the school.
Hermione had completed all of her first-year courses on her own and was currently studying second-year spell courses, so she wasn't with Harry and the others. Harry, Ron, and Neville were preparing to find a classroom to practice magic.
Ron and Neville were also concerned about not being able to perform magic easily.
Ron's magic was sometimes good, sometimes not, while Neville's was generally poor and required a lot of practice to reach Ron's level. By comparison, Harry was much more at ease.
Judging solely by their magical skills, their grades were among the best in the year.
This is why Ron and Neville were excited to practice magic with him.
The three of them found an empty classroom and practiced protection spells.
The protection spell is the second-to-last magic in the first-year Charms class, along with the Shield Charm and the lower-level general protection magic. It is also the first magic that can truly be considered combat magic, the Disarming Charm and Stupefying Charm that Harry mastered were not taught in class.
The effect of the protection spell is to summon a one-directional shield. The area and strength increase with the wizard's magical power and mastery of the spell. However, there is an upper limit to the area, which is a circle with a diameter of ten feet.
First-year students are qualified if they can achieve a diameter of three feet and block the sandbags thrown at them, and are considered excellent if the diameter is five feet.
Harry could now reach about seven feet. In his attempt with Hermione, he was able to easily block one of Hermione's Disarming Charms. After the second Disarming Charm, he was only trembling and about to fall, but it wasn't completely destroyed. This already surpassed the excellent level for a first-year student.
But Ron and Neville couldn't even hold their shields. Even though they occasionally summoned them, they were completely ineffective in defense and shattered at the slightest touch.
"Ron, let's start with you first." Harry grabbed the small sandbag he had prepared long ago.
Ron nodded, waved his wand, cast the spell, and then nothing happened.
Ron awkwardly smiled, then tried again, but still nothing happened.
It wasn't until the third attempt that the tip of his wand finally lit up, and a white light shield appeared between him and Harry, but it was only about sixty centimeters in diameter.
At this level, of course, he would probably only get an A (passing grade), as long as he had defensive ability.
"Are you ready?" Harry raised a small sandbag the size of his palm.
Ron nodded nervously.
Harry gently tossed the sandbag, and it hit Ron on the head.
The protection spell broke at the first touch.
"It's still not working." Ron lowered his head, distressed, staring at the sandbag that had fallen to the floor.
Harry frowned slightly, somewhat confused.
He observed Ron's magical invocation carefully three times. There was no problem with his hand movements, syllables, or the rhythm of the spell. Yet the effect was far from what he had expected. Why?
"Neville, you try," Ron said angrily.
Neville nodded and raised his wand. It turned out that he was no better than Ron. He failed to cast the spell three or four times in a row.
Harry's expression became strange.
When Neville cast magic twice in a row without issues with his movements and incantations, Harry silently activated his magical senses.
Then he saw.
When Neville recited the spell, the magical power in his body was clearly seen converging. All the magical power gathered smoothly in his right hand and flowed toward the wand.
But something strange happened. When the magical power was being poured into the wand, it actually stagnated.
Then, Neville tried with all his might to push it further, but both times, the power only reached halfway and couldn't proceed any further.
This was the first time Harry used his magical senses while someone else was casting magic, so he wasn't sure if this was normal. He then grabbed his own wand, waved it, and recited a spell.
This time, he clearly saw his magical power gather in his fingers, then flow smoothly into the wand and to its tip without delay, forming a light shield with a diameter of two and a half meters in front of him.
Since he wasn't fully focused, Harry's magical performance wasn't as good as before, but it was good enough to make Ron and Neville look envious.
Harry's face became strange.
"Could it be the wand?"
Harry looked at Ron's wand in his hand. It appeared very worn, with the tip damaged and even some shiny silver visible, it was made of unicorn hair. Suddenly, he felt this was quite likely.
"Ron, try again," Harry said.
Ron responded. He was used to this kind of repetitive practice and didn't get discouraged by a few failures.
This time, Harry observed the direction of Ron's magic.
Like Neville, Ron's magic started out well, but when it flowed into the wand, there was a delay.
But this time, the magical power barely gathered and formed a shield in front of Ron.
Ron immediately smiled. Although the effect of the shield was extremely poor, at least it had been successfully summoned, which was an improvement. Neville, who was standing next to them, looked at them enviously. He had never managed to perform this magic.
"Ron, if I remember correctly, your wand used to belong to your brother?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, it's Charlie's. He didn't have any experience in the first month after graduation, so something went wrong when he tried to subdue a dragon..." Ron pointed at the damage on the surface of the wand.
"As you know, fire-breathing dragons are very powerful creatures. A wand like this can't handle them."
When talking about his brother, Ron seemed a little proud.
Harry raised an eyebrow, remembering what Ollivander had said: the wand chooses the wizard. When he chose his wand, he had tried more than a dozen before getting the current one, which was said to have a close connection with Voldemort.
"Neville, what about you, did you choose your wand?" Harry turned back to Neville.
Neville was stunned, and Ron looked at him as if he had realized something.
"I… my wand is my father's..." Neville's eyes were a bit erratic. "He... he's at St. Mungo's... he can't use a wand now, so my grandmother let me use his wand..."
Harry thought he might have discovered the reason.
Ron and Neville's magical power and mental strength were obviously better than their peers, even better than Hermione's, but their magical abilities were the worst in the entire year. The reason was probably the wand.
"I have an idea..." Harry said, "Let's find Professor McGonagall."
"Looking for Professor McGonagall?" Ron and Neville's faces changed when they heard this. The two poor students were a bit scared of their strict head of house.
"Well, I think Professor McGonagall is the one who can help us the most. Besides, she should be able to help us solve this problem." Harry said seriously.
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