When they came out of the underground classroom, Hermione kept complaining to Ethan Jones, "That's so unfair! We were both late, why did they only deduct points from me and not yours?!"
Ethan Jones grinned mischievously and offered a bad suggestion: "Well, he's our Head of House, after all. Why don't you try being late for Transfiguration class next time? Let's see if Professor McGonagall will deduct points from your grade."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him: "Get lost! Don't you know what kind of person Professor McGonagall is? She's not like Snape, that old bat. She wouldn't compromise justice just because someone from her own House made a mistake."
Hermione was full of resentment, but Ethan Jones dared not speak ill of Snape behind his back; he still had something he wanted to ask his beloved Head of House.
See you this afternoon.
Hermione went to class, but Ethan Jones went back and knocked on Snape's office door.
The door opened, and the indifferent Snape stared at Ethan Jones without saying a word, his dark eyes fixed on him.
After a few weeks of limited contact, Ethan Jones had come to understand his professor to some extent. Although he didn't know why the professor seemed to have a kind of pitying affection for him, it didn't stop him from using this to his advantage.
He grinned and said, "Professor, could you please sign a permission slip for the Restricted Section? I'd like to ask Mrs. Pince to help me find some theoretical books about Dark Magic from the Restricted Section."
Snape stared at him until Ethan Jones's smile began to falter, then he spoke: "This is not something you should know."
Ethan Jones seized on Snape's desire to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and catered to his interest: "No, Professor, I just want to learn about some Dark Magic. Professor Quirrell's course, although it's called Defense Against the Dark Arts, doesn't contain any content related to Dark Magic at all."
Snape's eyes flashed, but he ultimately refused: "No, you shouldn't be studying Dark Magic right now."
Ethan Jones wanted to try and negotiate, but Snape had already closed the door with a cold face, so he had no choice but to give up.
After Ethan Jones left, Snape sat in his chair, recalling his school days, his eyes filled with pain.
"If, if I hadn't become so obsessed with the study of Dark Magic back then, if I hadn't said those words, would everything have been different, Lily..."
On the other side, Ethan Jones was still thinking about who else besides Quirrell could get a signed slip of paper that would allow him to enter the Restricted Section.
"Professor Sprout is impossible, and Professor Binns can't even sign it, so it's even more impossible for him."
Professor McGonagall would definitely not agree, Professor Flitwick had already refused, and the remaining professors were no match either. Were we left with only Quirrell?
However, the reason he planned to go to the Restricted Section to find some theories of Dark Magic was to prevent Quirrell, or rather Voldemort, from writing his own theories of Dark Magic that contained errors or traps. If he were to ask Quirrell to sign them at this point, wouldn't that be underestimating his intelligence?
In the past few days, he has read through all twenty pages of parchment that Quirrell gave him.
As for spells, he can't cast the four spells other than the Confringo yet, but he has some clues about the simpler ones. The problem lies with the ten basic theory spells.
He dared not fully trust Voldemort, and was very cautious about the theories he wrote down, fearing that he might inadvertently go astray.
"Oh dear! Am I doomed to spend my days practicing the Disillusionment Charm and wandering the Restricted Section at night?" This was the only solution he could think of besides signing the slips of paper.
He knew the spell for the Disillusionment Charm; it was recorded in Advanced Spells, and this spell was one of the main reasons he wanted to buy the book.
The book says this is one of the spells commonly used by wizards who raise magical creatures, but it is indeed quite difficult, and he has never succeeded in doing so.
He felt that his magic power was insufficient. Although all the incantations and actions were correct, he just couldn't release the spell at the last moment.
However, he couldn't find a solution to this problem for the time being. He searched through all the books he could find but couldn't find any potions that could increase magic power. He could only wait for his magic power to grow naturally.
He stood in the corridor sighing for a long time, hoping that Snape would hear him and change his mind.
But he was definitely overthinking it. Perhaps the room was too soundproof, or perhaps Snape was too lost in his memories to hear anything.
"Ugh, what a waste of my performance." After about ten minutes, he couldn't keep up the act any longer and quickly went off to secretly learn Dark Magic.
After the week's classes ended, he noticed a clear change in Hermione.
Since the Thursday night outing, Hermione's attitude towards school rules has lessened slightly.
While studying in the library on the weekend, she frantically flipped through various books related to magical creatures, trying to find information about the Three-Headed Dog she had seen that night.
She exclaimed softly, "Found it!"
"Let me see."
He took a book that looked quite old, and Hermione pointed to a few short lines of text on it.
"The Three-Headed Dog is a very rare and magical creature, possibly originating from Greece. Its specific habits are unknown. It is huge and has three heads."
He whispered to Hermione, "That's it? It's practically nothing."
"No, this is enough. I think there must be some extraordinary treasure that requires such a rare and magical creature to guard it."
Hermione was no longer concerned about what secrets were hidden inside; she just wanted to understand a creature she didn't know and satisfy her curiosity.
"Whatever makes you happy."
They stopped talking before Mrs. Pince kicked them out of the library.
As they left the library, Hermione hurried away: "Ethan, I'm going now. I need to keep an eye on Harry and Ron to prevent them from making any more mistakes, and also keep an eye on Neville to prevent him from forgetting the password and getting locked out again."
Ethan Jones opened his mouth, watching Hermione run hurriedly towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
Back in his dorm, he played with Little Black, which was growing bigger every day. It was now twice as long as when he first saw it, and it showed no signs of stopping growing. He wondered where its limit would be.
"It's time to get it a bigger net; it's getting a bit cramped."
Watching the Salamander enjoying his touch, Ethan Jones remembered another way to get on Snape's good side.
"Using the blood of a mutated Salamander like Little Black as a stepping stone, surely Snape, as a Potions Master, wouldn't refuse? Once we're on good terms with Snape, wouldn't we be able to get as many permissions as we want from the Restricted Section?"
"Little Blackie, Little Blackie, grow up quickly and have babies, otherwise, even if we drain all your blood, we won't have much to give as gifts."
Perhaps sensing the ill intent in Ethan Jones's mind, the black lizard, which had been enjoying being petted, crawled a few steps toward the metal mesh and trembled at the edge of the flames.
"Hey, you've got a pretty good sense of danger. Don't worry, it won't do anything to you now, but if you don't behave, then things might change." Ethan Jones threatened, unsure if the creature could understand him.