The afternoon class is Magic History, with Ravenclaw and Slytherin attending together. Sitting diagonally in front of Vid is a boy with pale blond hair, accompanied by two chubby little followers. Vid recognizes the boy as Draco Malfoy, the little antagonist who went head-to-head with the protagonist for seven years in the original story. However, the relationship between Slytherin and Ravenclaw is decent, and Malfoy doesn't just spew venom at everyone. On the contrary, apart from his somewhat arrogant demeanor and tendency to boast about his family background and wealth, he is quite polite in the classroom.
But towards his nemesis, Harry Potter, his attitude is undoubtedly different.
When Professor Binns phased through the wall and appeared in the classroom, Malfoy was still badmouthing Harry Potter to his followers: "Always showing off that scar on his head as if it's something amazing—hanging out with that stinky Weasley, carrying around their family's poverty everywhere—"
The surrounding Ravenclaws all cast side glances and quietly distanced themselves from the Slytherins.
—No matter what happens in the future, Harry Potter is still a hero in the eyes of many wizards, and most of the kids in school grew up hearing his stories. Naturally, Draco Malfoy's words made people uncomfortable, and they served as a reminder of some facts that had already been covered up.
"I heard Malfoy— I mean Draco Malfoy's father was a Death Eater who followed the Mysterious Man—" Michael whispered to Vid: "It's said that after the Mysterious Man was defeated by Harry Potter, his father claimed he was under the Imperio Curse and donated a large amount of money to the Ministry of Magic, which saved him from going to prison. You see his attitude, it's obvious his father is still holding a grudge against Harry Potter for defeating his master, so naturally he picks up on that..."
Vid secretly shook his head. He knew Draco Malfoy probably hadn't thought that far; it seemed he initially wanted to befriend Harry Potter, but his arrogance caused Harry to snub him—what pampered little young master could endure such humiliation? Thus, he persistently opposed the Savior.
"Don't take it lightly, and don't get too close to Malfoy." Michael warned: "Their family is one of the most obsessed with bloodline among the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
"The Sacred Twenty-Eight?" This touched on Vid's area of ignorance.
"Just the twenty-eight pure-blood families with no Muggle ancestors and no intermarriage with Muggles." Michael said nonchalantly: "But my dad says it's all nonsense, because many of the families listed have Muggle ancestors, or they claim to speak of Muggle ancestors."
............
There's no denying that Magic History is indeed an incredibly dull class. Professor Binns, the ghost teaching them, drones on and on in a voice like a lullaby, never asking questions or caring what students are doing, speaking with a wheezy, indistinct tone. Within five minutes, half the students in the classroom were slumped over, while the remaining half were either dozing off or secretly drawing grids on their parchment to play board games.
Vid, on the other hand, tuned out Professor Binns' hypnotic voice and drew a timeline on paper, listing the important dates, historical figures, and major events in wizarding world magic history exams were all about these things. On Vid's desk was a library-borrowed copy of "Hogwarts: A History," which, when cross-referenced, tempted one to imagine the grand adventures and struggles of Hogwarts' four founders throughout history, and the role Hogwarts played in the subsequent thousand-plus years.
The history itself is actually very interesting, but Professor Binns makes the class utterly devoid of charm.
As soon as class ended, Professor Binns' voice abruptly stopped, and he leisurely floated through the wall and away. Vid woke Michael, and the two headed to the library to complete their Magic History assignment—a one-foot-long essay on the tyrannical rule of the Demon Emirik.
"There's no one in all of Hogwarts more diligent than you." Michael muttered while doing his homework: "I'd bet other students will wait until the last day to start theirs!"
No sooner had he spoken when a wobbly figure passed by them—Hermione carrying a thick stack of books, which caused the entire table to shake slightly when she set them down after spotting Vid.
"Hi, Vid." Hermione greeted, sitting down directly, asking: "How's Ravenclaw?"
"Apart from the many stairs, it's not bad." Vid commented: "Hermione, this is Michael Corner. Michael, this is Hermione Granger, we met on the train."
"Hello." Hermione extended a hand with the courage and enthusiasm of a little lion: "Are you also in Ravenclaw?"
Michael looked at the height of the book stack and swallowed hard, shaking hands and hesitatingly said: "Ma… maybe?"
In front of these two, he deeply felt unworthy of calling himself a Ravenclaw.
"—Maybe?" Hermione frowned.
Sensing some sort of bloodline suppression from the biological chain, Michael inexplicably shrunk a little, quietly asking: "Can I ask… why did you take so many books? You're not planning to read them all, are you?"
"Of course! These are the books I plan to finish this week." Hermione said matter-of-factly.
Michael turned ashen, and with his eyes, he asked Vid—what's going on? One week? Even more diligent than you?
Vid merely raised an eyebrow at him.
Michael ceased complaining about Vid dragging him to do homework, lowering his head to focus on finishing his paper. Meanwhile, having completed his paper, Vid continued creating his timeline.
"Oh, your method is quite useful." Hermione peered over for a glance, suggesting: "But I think combining it with Muggle history might be more insightful."
"Yeah, I plan to add that later." Vid pushed his completed section towards her: "You've read more books than I have, can you check if there's anything in the first part I need to revise?"
"Let me have a look." Hermione didn't refuse, carefully going through it before commenting: "Here, the specific time of the magic wand's creation is unknown, Melena Sims' main contribution was researching the magical properties of eighteen wand woods, proposing the magic wand compatibility theory and the Sims formula..."
She pulled a book from her stack, flipping rapidly through it: "In 382 B.C., the Olivander family began making magic wands, and to this day the best wand makers are still from the Olivander family. I think this could also be a test point..."
Quill quickly recording on parchment, Madam Pince occasionally shot their way watchful glances, seemingly ready to evict them at the slightest noisy disturbance.
Meanwhile, Michael, rushing through his essay, felt increasingly insignificant while listening. He silently pulled out a sheet of paper, preparing to copy Vid's revised magic history timeline. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he nudged Vid with his elbow, whispering: "Look!"
There, outside the library door, Theo was peeking, likely just back from Herbology class, still dusted in greenhouse soil, causing Madam Pince to refuse them entry. Catching Vid and Michael's gaze, Theo happily waved them over, signaling them to come out.
Vid bid Hermione farewell and joined Michael in packing their things to head out, finding Leian and Theo at the door, looking rather grubby, asked: "Is something urgent?"
The two Hufflepuffs exchanged a glance, with Leian nodding towards Theo: "You say it; you brought it up to Professor Sprout."
Theo laughed: "Vid, didn't you say earlier you wanted to find a quiet place to practice magic spells? Our Herbology Professor Sprout is the head of Hufflepuff. After class, I stayed back to help the professor, and after finishing, I mustered up the courage to ask—"