The Finite Incantatem spell had the little wizards buzzing with excitement.
For the next several days, that's all anyone practiced.
Hermione, Justin, and Neville were basically living in the Hope Cottage. Ron got sidetracked sometimes by weird wizard chess or Quidditch, but he was still there more often than not.
Harry was the only one who couldn't join. Wood had quietly doubled the intensity of Quidditch training the second he heard the latest match schedule.
He, the twins, and the rest of the team were absolutely miserable.
Roger loved rubbing it in, yelling from the locker-room doorway:
"Ravenclaw's about to make history!"
Wood would turn purple, itching to drag the whole team onto the pitch and settle things with Ravenclaw right then and there.
At this point, Ron spent more time in the cottage than Harry did. Between the brutal practices, Harry's only way to keep up with his friends was whatever Ron mumbled when he finally dragged himself back to the dorm.
Like what dangerous plant they'd run into in the greenhouses, or what kind of dessert Professor Sprout had given them as a reward.
Meanwhile, Harry was stressing about something almost as much as he was stressing about Professor Quirrell:
He was about to face Sean on the Quidditch pitch.
Ron would come back from the cottage wiped out, having spent the whole evening practicing Finite Incantatem with the others. Harry would try to talk about his worries, but all he'd get was Ron mumbling:
"Harry… tomorrow, mate. Can't it wait till tomorrow?"
And tomorrow? Same story. The guy was exhausted.
So Harry just stewed in silence while running himself ragged in training.
…
It was a bright but freezing morning.
Sean pulled Justin aside and seriously warned him not to get too close to Professor Quirrell.
Lately, with Finite Incantatem under their belts, the kids had gotten bold, even sneaking around to tail Quirrell.
Everyone in the cottage had the same naive, dangerous idea:
If things went south, they could just use the spell to get out of trouble. But if they caught Quirrell doing something shady, they could report it to Dumbledore, and boom, they'd personally kick Voldemort's lackey out of the castle.
It was sweet. It was also reckless.
Dumbledore could keep first-years safe from the castle's big threats, but he couldn't stop a handful of kids who were asking to get hit with a Memory Charm, or worse, the Imperius Curse.
They were being… a little too brave.
Then again, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had charged straight into a death-trap gauntlet in first year just to keep the Philosopher's Stone out of the wrong hands.
Compared to that, spying on Quirrell almost seemed safe.
Wizards and recklessness, it's all relative. There's no "most reckless," just "even more reckless."
---
In the Forbidden Forest
Sean had made a magical creature distribution map. After adding some simple alchemy, it worked like a homework planner, showing daily tasks.
Hagrid's first reaction was:
"I've got way more than that in my head!"
A few days later, it was:
"What was I forgetting again? Sean, just tell me one more time…"
So Sean gave him a copy. Hagrid was over the moon all day and insisted Sean try his rock-hard toffee.
They left it on the sofa. No one believed it was toffee.
It was so tough you had to warm it by the fire just to chew it.
Hagrid swore he'd make batches for the professors at Christmas, "carefully" flavored differently for each one.
He was convinced they loved it.
Truth? They probably didn't. But no one had the heart to tell him, not even "blunt" Professor Snape.
How bad was it? Think rock cakes, but worse.
Justin took one bite and winced.
"I think I chipped a tooth…"
Ron tried a cold piece and looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"My teeth… mmph…"
Then Neville, who over-toasted his, got it stuck to his molars.
Justin ended up escorting both of them to the Hospital Wing.
Sean watched the chaos, shook his head, and tapped the desk. A bookshelf spat out a notebook full of his Forbidden Forest study notes.
Every feeding or petting session raised a creature's affinity, but slowly.
Thestrals were gentle but didn't warm up to any one wizard easily.
Still, affinity ticked up daily. Sean wasn't in a rush. He had time to earn a thestral's trust.
Compared to high-tier alchemy projects that took forever, he'd shifted focus to mid-tier ones.
- [Mid-tier · Weird Wizard Chess: Proficient (120/3000)]
- [Mid-tier · Wizard Chess: Proficient (119/3000)]
- [Mid-tier · Leisure Broom: Proficient (200/3000)]
He needed six expert-level mid-tier creations. These three were first in line.
And now there was a new one:
- [Mid-tier · Planning Map: Apprentice (20/300)]
Once the map collected nearby info, it worked like those shady mobile game maps, giving daily quests. Skip one? A big red exclamation mark popped up.
Sean's logic was simple: who can resist a red exclamation mark?
Next step: add wizard tracking.
He'd had the idea for a while. Accio summons specific things.
If he used a tiny bit of magic to summon Justin's scarf, he wouldn't actually pull it, but he'd feel a faint magical pulse, stronger or weaker depending on distance. That pulse could pinpoint Justin's rough location.
Downside: Justin couldn't resist, or it wouldn't work.
The result? A weaker version of the Marauder's Map.
Once he mastered it, he'd hand copies out to the Hope Cottage crew.
Naturally, the planning map and weird wizard chess became his new grind targets.