The next morning, Kael, with faint dark circles under his eyes, yawned as he walked into the auditorium.
Still groggy, he almost sat at the Slytherin table, but fortunately, Mikel, who was walking with him, stopped him in time.
"Kael, what's going on with you?"
Cedric handed him a cup of milk and said, "Didn't sleep well last night?"
Kael sighed.
It wasn't that he didn't sleep well; he didn't sleep at all.
Good heavens, he'd spent an entire night searching the Restricted Area, and didn't even come across the words "Soul Artifact," let alone "Advanced Black Magic Unveiled."
There was only one book called "Let the Soul Boil" that vaguely mentioned Soul Artifacts, and it was just a brief sentence.
"Find the vessel that holds the soul to grasp the key to immortality."
Other than that, there was nothing else.
What kind of Restricted Area is this?
Bah, false advertising!
Of course, with just one night, Kael certainly couldn't have gone through the entire Restricted Area, but he already didn't want to continue searching.
It was obvious that Dumbledore had removed all the books about Soul Artifacts, leaving only those with a few useless snippets at most.
Kael looked up at his friends' concerned faces, forced a smile, and shook his head, saying, "It's nothing, I just had strange dreams all night, a bit hard to adjust."
"Strange dreams?"
Cedric frowned and said, "I remember Hufflepuff has Divination Class today, do you want me to ask Professor Sprout for you?"
With the encouragement of Fred and George, Cedric also chose Divination Class.
"No need."
Kael yawned again and said, "I just spent the whole night reading in my dream, I guess it's the start of the term excitement, maybe it'll be fine by tomorrow."
Uh...
After hearing Kael's words, everyone except Cedric turned away, not looking at him anymore.
Reading books all night in one's dreams... is this what being top of the class means?
Can't provoke, can't provoke.
Even Cedric couldn't help but twitch his mouth, saying nothing more.
"Let me tell you something interesting."
At this time, Mikel suddenly leaned over, mysteriously saying, "Last night, I heard from a new first-year student that Gryffindor's Harry Potter and Ron Weasley tried to feed Professor McGonagall with small fish during Transfiguration Class."
"Feed Professor McGonagall?" Cedric suddenly got interested, incredulously asking, "Is that true?"
He knew that Professor McGonagall had a habit of demonstrating her Animagus on the first class, but he didn't expect anyone to deliberately provoke her.
Yes, in Cedric's eyes, they did it on purpose. After all, who brings small fish snacks to class? Obviously, they knew Professor McGonagall would turn into a cat, so they prepared in advance.
One could only say, indeed, it's the Savior; this kind of courage is not something an ordinary person could have.
"Of course it's true."
Mikel, holding back laughter, said, "This story is spreading all over the school. That new student, Justin Finch-Fletchley, even said they threw the small fish snacks across half the classroom like feeding a stray cat.
Professor McGonagall's face turned blue and she punished them... pfft... punished them to stand and listen to a whole class."
Saying this, Mikel couldn't help it any longer, clutching his stomach and laughing, collapsing on the table.
Cedric also couldn't help but laugh, though his smile wasn't as exaggerated as Mikel's.
Kael instinctively turned his head to look at Gryffindor's table.
Over there, Harry and Ron were huddled in a corner of the table, not daring to lift their heads, while Fred and George stood beside them, laughing and patting their shoulders vigorously.
In their view, their brother and schoolmate undoubtedly did something remarkable, so great that even they had to deeply admire it.
"Today's new students sure are bold."
Kael turned back, calmly picking up a piece of toast and popping it in his mouth, then taking several slices of fried eggs and ham.
After eating quite a bit, he tapped the table with his finger and softly said,
"May I have a cup of tea, please?"
As soon as he spoke, a steaming cup of tea appeared in front of Kael, along with a small pot of sugar cubes.
Kael picked up the cup, tested the temperature, and finding it just right, drank the whole cup of tea in one go.
"Another cup, please."
...
After drinking two cups in succession, Kael finally felt less sleepy, but just to be safe, he ordered a third cup.
After all, the first class today was Transfiguration Class, and if he fell asleep in class, his outcome would definitely be worse than Harry's.
After leaving the auditorium, the group said goodbye to Cedric and headed together to the Transfiguration Classroom on the fourth floor.
Perhaps because of what happened yesterday, Professor McGonagall looked even more stern than usual.
And unlike Professor Flitwick, in the first class of the new semester, she didn't allow time for students to review last year's material, instead going straight into the new content.
Turning a beetle into a button is a lot more challenging than last year.
Because beetles move, and they move pretty fast.
Mikel waved his wand around, but after much effort, he only managed to give the beetle a bit of a workout.
Ryan was a bit smarter, he just pinched the beetle with his hand, so he didn't have to worry about missing.
But just as he was lifting his wand-hand, Professor McGonagall appeared beside him and said sternly, "I already said, don't use your hands to touch the beetle, did you not hear? Or do you think your left hand is a bit extra?"
The beetle isn't big, and pinching it makes it even smaller. A slight mistake could make the charm hit your hand.
If you're lucky, nothing happens, but if you're unlucky... who knows what might happen.
This happened last year, and the young wizard's fingers ended up stuck together, and he had to stay in the hospital wing for two days to recover.
Startled, Ryan stammered, "Pro-professor McGonagall, I... I forgot."
"Three points from Hufflepuff."
Professor McGonagall gave him a sharp look and turned away.
Having learned from his lesson, no one dared to be clever anymore, obediently chasing the beetles around the table.
But their results were mostly less than ideal.
The beetles were too agile, many people gradually lost patience, swinging their wands with increasing force.
The classroom began to echo with a series of cracking sounds, occasionally interspersed with a few sparks darting around.
The beetle fatality rate began to climb sharply, some were squashed by wands, others were blasted into the air, making Professor McGonagall's expression even grimmer.