Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 140 Lockhart's skill left Rice completely bewildered.

Hermione didn't sleep well last night.

As soon as she returned to the lounge, she couldn't wait to look at the parchment scrolls Mrs. Spitter had given her, and then she stayed up all night reading them.

The knowledge inside was so novel and amazing that she became completely engrossed in it and couldn't tear herself away.

After one night, Hermione had memorized almost every word on the parchment and even tried it out on a small scale. The instructions on controlling magic were a bit difficult, but she was confident she could master them by next Monday.

I must give Ms. Spitter a surprise when I see her again next Monday!

However, despite her high spirits, reality was harsh. Hermione, who had stayed up all night, was unable to concentrate in her classes during the day. Her eyelids were drooping, and her vision was gradually becoming blurry.

She closed her eyes, then after a few seconds overcame her physiological instincts and tried to open them, making herself look like she wasn't asleep, but blinking—albeit at longer intervals, she really wasn't asleep.

Every now and then, Hermione would yawn. Perhaps it was because she exhaled a lot of carbon dioxide when she yawned. Each time she yawned, the little witch would be briefly awake for a few seconds before being enveloped by drowsiness again.

Professor Sprout, who taught herbalism, noticed Hermione's drowsy state. The usually amiable witch was acting strangely today, with a hint of anger in her expression. The clever young wizards guessed that this was related to the bandage on her arm.

In fact, just a few hours earlier, Professor Sprout had experienced the most thrilling moment of his life.

The flying car that Harry and Ron were driving lost power when it reached the airspace above Hogwarts, causing them to crash into an ancient tree called the "Willow of the Beating" instead of landing safely on the flat lawn in front of the castle.

The two young wizards were unharmed, but the Willow was badly injured, which is when Professor Sprout had to step in. As Hogwarts' Master of Herbalism, she was extremely skilled at healing plants, even rare and precious ones like the Willow.

Logically, she could have healed the willow with just a few simple spells, but unfortunately, she was targeted by Lockhart.

Upon learning that the Beating Willow was an ancient and extremely precious tree with a long history, he didn't hesitate to find Professor Sprout and pester her to help him treat it. He confidently assured her that he could fix the Willow's problem in "a second." Then Professor Sprout made a decision she would regret for the rest of her life: she took Lockhart with her.

At first, Professor Sprout thought Lockhart was a nice guy! But when she pressed the "pause button" on the Whomping Willow and stood under the willow to heal it, Lockhart activated the Whomping Willow with a single restoration spell.

Professor Sprout didn't even have time to process her emotions before she was thrown away by the willow tree. If she hadn't been so skilled, she would have died under that tree.

After escaping the Willow's attack range, even Professor Sprout, who was usually known for her good temper, couldn't tolerate Lockhart anymore. She scolded him and told him to keep his distance. Lockhart walked away several steps without saying a word, but judging from his expression, he didn't seem to realize the extent of the trouble he had just caused; he was even able to maintain a smile!

Seeing Lockhart's expression, Professor Sprout was furious, but she had no way to vent her anger. At most, she could write a complaint letter to Dumbledore, but that wouldn't do anything to Lockhart. This pent-up rage remained inside her, and even a whole class couldn't extinguish it.

Seeing Hermione Granger looking like she was about to fall asleep, she was furious. She knew it was wrong to take her anger out on a student, but she just couldn't help it—Hermione happened to be in the same house as Lockhart.

"Miss Granger, Miss Granger!" Professor Sprout called several times before Hermione responded.

"What did I just say?" Professor Sprout's gaze fell on Hermione's dark circles.

Hermione: "Uh..."

"Ravenclaw, deduct five points. I was just saying that mandrake can be used to make a powerful restorative agent to restore people who have been deformed or cursed to their original state."

Hermione lowered her head, trying hard to suppress the urge to yawn.

"Summer vacation is over now! You need to get over it as soon as possible!" Professor Sprout warned the young wizards before continuing his lecture.

Rice looked thoughtfully at Hermione, who was barely keeping her spirits up and who knew when she would fall asleep again. Then he took a small bottle out of his pocket and used magic to make it fly towards Hermione.

"A magic potion to refresh and invigorate you, but remember to go to bed early tonight."

"Thank you." Hermione said, waving the bottle at her, and it flew into her hand.

Rice: ?!

Damn it, Hermione just used her magic to "suck" the bottle into her hand!

Is it a coincidence, or...?

Rice looked at Hermione and was reminded of the crystal ball that Ravenclaw had given to Daphne last semester.

Now, the entire herbal medicine class seemed dull and uninteresting.

Rice's potion worked well. After Hermione drank it, it was like taking a big gulp of chilled mint lemonade. She was instantly wide awake and didn't yawn once during the entire class.

After class, Rice approached Hermione.

"Hermione, that bottle from earlier..."

"Thanks for the potion, I'm off!" Hermione shoved the empty bottle into Rice's hand and ran off quickly.

The little girl didn't think too much about it; she just wanted to go back and practice her magic control more—during the herbalism class just now, Hermione had miraculously managed to use magic to pull Rice's potion bottle into her hand, achieving a breakthrough for herself. Now, she wanted to take advantage of her good feel for it and strike while the iron was hot back at the castle.

Unable to get any information out of her, Rice vaguely guessed what was going on.

His old friend from back then is making moves again... This made Rice feel much better.

His good mood lasted until Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon.

After giving a very long self-introduction to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students in the audience, Lockhart pulled out a stack of exam papers from under the podium.

"Before we begin today's lesson, I'm going to give you a little quiz. Don't be afraid, it's just to see how you all do," he said as he distributed the test curlers.

Upon hearing Lockhart's decision to conduct a pre-class assessment quiz, Rice's spirits lifted: This was an ingenious teaching method, efficiently assessing students' levels and allowing teachers to tailor instruction accordingly. Could it be...?

However, when Rice saw the questions on the test paper, his vision went black: the first question on the paper clearly stated—

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

First update delivered, second update coming soon~

Hermione's description of being extremely sleepy perfectly reflects my own lunch break experience—the company holds a routine meeting during lunchtime, and I'm always incredibly sleepy; this is how I manage to get through it.

(End of this chapter)