The days at Hogwarts

The first class in the morning was the History of Magic. This year's History of Magic course focused on the Middle Ages, when conflicts between wizards and Muggles became increasingly intense. Although the Muggle witch hunts posed little threat to adult wizards, many young wizards were harmed. In order to retaliate against Muggles, there were many cases of wizards massacring Muggles...

Later, the International Confederation of Wizards came into being, laying the foundation for the subsequent development of the wizarding world.

In fact, we learned some of this content last year. Professor Binns mentioned it again because 1994 is approaching and the next International Confederation of Wizards Conference is about to be held.

Unfortunately, the young wizards had little political sensitivity. They were already very sleepy in the first class in the morning, and when they heard that the content was something they had already learned, they slept even more soundly and were so comfortable that they almost wanted to snore.

The second class was Charms. Professor Flitwick had not started teaching for this school year yet. He planned to spend a month reviewing the previous content, and only today did they review the Levitation Charm.

Although Loren listened listlessly, Harry was secretly delighted.

He had attended both classes with Hufflepuff, and since Malfoy from Slytherin was not there, he simply escaped the humiliation of being a lackey for half a day.

This kind of secret joy continued until the afternoon, before the first potions class for Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Unexpectedly, Malfoy swaggered into the dungeon just before class, with an undisguised smile on his face. Harry felt that he looked like a peacock with its tail spread, ostentatious and proud.

Pansy Parkinson followed him in, the bandages on her hands removed. She glared at Harry, then approached Malfoy with a silly smile: "I don't know why you asked me to spare that beast, Draco, but I will definitely do what you say."

"I'll make it up to you." Malfoy frowned in disgust, and when Pansy looked away, he made a face at Harry and winked.

Harry was feeling uneasy. He looked at the materials he would use today in a panic, turned around and asked the two top students at the table in front of him for help. He whispered, "Loren, Hermione, tell me how to take these herbs so that I can enter the school infirmary, right now!"

Snapped!

Harry was hit on the back of the head. Snape let go of his sleeves and walked to the front desk from behind, as if he was not the one who just attacked him. He said calmly: "Mr. Potter, if your troll brain has a better memory than the bass in the Black Lake and can remember the summer homework, you should understand the potion we are going to learn today."

Loren spread his hands towards Harry with a helpless expression.

Snape stood at the podium and wrote "Shrinking Potion" on the blackboard. He turned around neatly and stared at Harry with an oppressive look: "Potter, you tell the story."

I knew it...it's the same every year, nothing new.

"Okay, Professor." Harry smiled calmly. He had anticipated Snape's difficulty. "The shrinking potion can shrink the drinker or transform him into a younger form. If the mixture is correct, the shrinking potion will appear a bright green. If the mixture fails, the potion will turn orange and be toxic."

Snape's expression remained unchanged: "What materials will be used?"

Harry answered calmly, "Daisy roots, shrunken figs, caterpillars, mouse spleens, leech juice, Professor Snape."

He deliberately put the title at the end, making it sound like Snape was one of those materials.

Loren looked at him in surprise.

Okay, I learned how to fight back.

Some of the little wizards couldn't help laughing quietly, then glanced cautiously at Professor Snape.

Snape's lips curled up with a hint of sarcasm: "Untimely cleverness will only make your situation worse."

"I don't understand what you mean, sir." Harry was not panicked at all, and was even a little expectant. He had memorized the processing methods of several medicinal herbs, and even asked Loren about the effects of various techniques.

"Then Mr. Potter, you smartass, please tell me the origin of the shrinking potion." Snape said slowly.

hiss~

As if being stared at by a basilisk, Harry's excitement was instantly frozen, his body was stiff as if petrified, the corners of his eyes kept twitching, and his expression seemed a little unsettled.

All the young wizards looked at Harry, and although they expressed deep sympathy, that did not stop them from watching the show.

Harry felt the cold sweat seeping down his back, slowly soaking his shirt, and his mentality was a little exploded.

Who invented the shrinking potion?

He seemed to have seen it in Hermione's paper, and he and Loren laughed at Hermione for being stupid.

The atmosphere was stagnant for half a minute. Harry took a deep breath and forced himself to stare straight into those cold eyes: "I don't know, sir."

Snape sneered and looked at Neville lazily: "Mr. Longbottom, you answer."

The young wizards looked at Neville with pity. Harry felt deeply guilty. He thought that he had angered Snape and implicated Neville.

Neville's face turned pale, and his lips trembled constantly. "Teacher, professor, the shrinking potion was invented in the 16th century. The famous pharmacist Zygmunt Budge accidentally prepared this potion."

Taking advantage of everyone's surprise, Ximo explained in a low voice: "His mother helped him with tutoring during the summer vacation. It was very thorough."

Harry felt complicated. When he couldn't answer, he was worried that Neville would be implicated. But when Neville answered, he felt a subtle sense of disappointment.

"That's surprising." Snape raised his eyebrows and looked at Harry again. "If Mr. Longbottom knows the answer and someone else can't answer it, maybe you should consider dropping out, smart Potter!"

He changed the subject: "Potter talked back to the teacher, and Gryffindor was deducted five points for this. Now, class begins!"

After the shrinking potion was invented and refrigerated for a long time, a wizard named Samuel Plunkett made it famous. In order to retaliate against the Muggle village that persecuted him, Samuel poured the shrinking potion into the village well, and then chased the shrunken villagers wearing flat-toed hobnail boots...

Harry's ordeal was not over yet. When Snape finished explaining the theory of the shrinking potion and asked the young wizards to form groups to start brewing it, Draco raised his right hand and said something that made Harry a little desperate: "Professor, I want to be in the same group with Potter!"

"Oh, really?" Snape showed a rare look of surprise, just like the other little wizards.

Harry saw Malfoy mouthing a silent threat: "Buckbeak..."

Facing the surprise of the crowd, Harry swallowed hard and squeezed out a few words from his throat: "Yes, yes, professor, I want to be in the same group with Malfoy."

For the next half of the class, the little wizards made mistakes frequently because an absurd scene was playing out in the classroom.

"Potter!" Draco grinned. "Cut the roots of these daisies for me."

Because he used too much force, Harry's fingers holding the knife were squeezed white. He dragged the daisy root in front of him and started cutting it haphazardly, cutting it into large and small pieces in an uneven manner.

Draco immediately looked disgusted: "Look at yourself, you have damaged the roots of the daisy. Can it be used? Cut it again."

"What can't I—"

"Ok?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy!"

Harry took a pair of daisy roots again with a frustrated look, cut them beautifully and handed them over.

Draco leisurely added the daisy roots to the cauldron and drawled again, "Potter, this fig of mine needs peeling."

Harry took the fig, peeled it quickly, and without saying a word threw it to Draco at the other end of the table, who was now smiling more smugly than ever.

"Potter, slice the caterpillar for me."

Chapter 297 Arithmetic Divination

"Malfoy, if you keep talking I'll slice you into pieces!" Harry roared.

The blade of the knife used to handle the herbs glowed with a frightening cold light. Judging from the smoothness with which it cut the daisy roots, it must be no problem to cut meat. Cutting bones might depend on the user's technique. However, judging from its length of less than three inches and the width of a finger, this statement obviously had no deterrent effect.

"It's a pity that I can't use it to make potions." Malfoy said in a sad tone, not paying any attention to his threat. "Then the poor hippogriff will become a hippogriff."

A nasty smile appeared on his face: "Do you know why?

Because it’s about to be beheaded! Hahahaha…”

"You deserve to be beheaded." Harry was so angry that his hands were shaking. He tightened the knife again and again, but in the end he had to do as he said and sliced ​​the caterpillar viciously.

A few tables to the right, Hermione added a mouse spleen to the cauldron. She couldn't stop looking ahead. She said with some concern, "They won't fight, will they?"

"It shouldn't be. Sometimes Harry is impulsive, and sometimes not so impulsive." Loren scooped some with a spoon and slowly poured it back into the crucible to check the color and observe the progress of the potion.

Small bubbles will appear at the bottom of the crucible. When it is about to boil but not yet boiling, drop a little leech juice into it and stir it over low heat until the decoction turns into a bright green color. Then a pot of fresh shrinking potion is ready.

Loren took out a small medicine bottle from his pendant and used a spoon to scoop up the potion and fill it into the bottle.

Hermione was confused and asked, "What is this for?"

"Stock up on some potions, just in case they're needed in the future." Loren didn't even raise his head, concentrating on getting the best deal from the school.

Hermione remained silent. Some kind of conscience that had not yet been completely polluted told her that this was improper behavior. In some ways, she felt that what Loren said made some sense.

Just when the little witch was in a moral dilemma, Draco's triumphant voice once again attracted everyone's attention: "Professor Snape, we're done!"

He held the stirring spoon high in his hand, looking smug.

Harry stood beside him, holding a gleaming knife in his hand, as if he was ready to stab Draco at any time.

This follower is a rebellious person.

After putting the filled potion into the pendant, Loren raised his head and watched the excitement with great interest.

Snape, who had rushed over upon hearing the noise, looked at the potion that Draco and Harry had brewed. He scooped up some with a spoon and slowly poured it back into the crucible, leaving a line of translucent green liquid for others to see.

"It's the color that a normal finished product should have." Snape looked at the two of them with a playful look in his eyes. "It seems like you two are a good fit as a team. Do you want to take Potions classes together in the future?"

"No, no need! Professor!" Harry shouted hurriedly, his eyes as green as the potion showing some panic, "Today is just a special case."

Snape looked at Draco, who shrugged his shoulders, thinking he had had enough fun anyway.

The little wizards in other groups also finished their potions before the get out of class ended. Most of them were successful. However, except for Loren and Hermione, the potions in other groups contained some impurities and the liquid was not clear enough.

Potions class and Harry's career as a lackey ended with Snape's bland voice assigning homework: "Listen, write a paper on shrinking potion this week. It must be no less than one foot long. get out of class dismissed."

Loren and his friends went upstairs together.

Harry still remembered Draco's expression when he ordered him around. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He gnashed his teeth in hatred and said, "Even if I don't cut him into pieces, I should really give him a beating!"

"Come on." Loren shook his head and said jokingly, "Your service period is for a whole day. Don't let him hear this, or he'll ask you to feed him at dinner time."

"Oh, Merlin~" Harry imagined the scene and shuddered with fear. "I won't go to the hall for dinner. Ron, can you bring some pie back to the common room for me?"

The others couldn't help but laugh.

"By the way, Hermione, what's the next class?" Harry habitually asked the most reliable one among them, but found that only Lauren and Ron were in sight. He asked puzzledly, "Where's Hermione? Where did she go?"

"I'm going to take a seat for the elective class." Loren replied calmly, "The next class is the elective course Arithmancy. Those of you who didn't choose it will not have class today. Go back to the lounge directly. It's time for me to go to class too."

There was a corner of the corridor just ahead, and many wizards who were taking elective courses were turning around the corner. Loren waved at the two of them, then quickly ran away from Harry and Ron's sight.

"See you at dinner then - no, see you after dinner." Harry waved at him and once again praised himself for his wise decision not to go to the hall for dinner.

Ron looked thoughtfully at the group of wizards who were taking elective courses. Among them was a nasty figure. He looked puzzled: "Is Malfoy going to take elective courses too?"

"Yes, I heard from Seamus that he chose ancient runes." Harry replied. Because of his role as a follower, he had specifically inquired about Malfoy's classes today.

Ron asked uncertainly, "I remember Hermione also chose Runes, right? What class did Lauren just say he and Hermione were going to take?"

Harry realized what he meant and answered hesitantly, "It seems to be Arithmancy..."

He paused and thought for a few seconds, "The class schedules conflict. Hermione will definitely choose Arithmancy. She can take this class with Loren."

Ron looked at him. "But do you think Hermione will drop a class, or miss classes?"

Harry was stunned for a moment: "Yes, that's... Hermione..."

……

When Loren walked into the Arithmancy classroom, Hermione was already waiting there in the front row.

She had just returned from an ancient rune class an hour later and was looking through the rune numbers 0-9 in her notebook.

Hearing the sound of Loren putting down his bag and sitting down, Hermione handed over the notebook and asked curiously, "Why is the animal representing the number three a runespoor snake instead of a three-headed dog? I mean, Fluffy also has three heads."

"Because the Runespoor is more popular among ancient wizards, its fangs can be ground into powder and used instead of Floo powder, although there is a risk of poisoning. Compared with the three-headed dogs that only drool and can be easily put to sleep by music, they are much more useful." Loren replied.

Hermione chuckled. "Fluvia will be sad to hear you say that. He used to like you so much."

"It was sent back to Greece by Dumbledore for foster care a long time ago. It can't hear anything." Loren paused, and couldn't help but ask the question in his mind, "Why did you go to the Ancient Runes class first, and then come back for Arithmancy, instead of finishing Arithmancy with me and then coming back for Ancient Runes."

"Well... there's no reason. It's all the same to you." Hermione hummed a few times, her drawn-out voice soft and gentle, like a kitten. Her white and tender fingers tapped on the notebook, and the brisk melody conveyed the message that the little witch was in a good mood.

Using the time-turner to take classes was tiring, and if she put the runes for one person at the end, she would find it even more difficult. But putting the arithmetic divination class for two people at the end, the fatigue of the long class seemed less difficult to bear.

"Strange." Loren muttered softly.

Compared to divination, the word "arithmetic" in the name of the arithmetic divination course scared away many young wizards, and there were not many people in the classroom. Because it was the first class, there was no designated seating, and the young wizards were scattered around the classroom, sitting sparsely.

Having taken Professor Trelawney's divination class, Hermione had high expectations for this course, which was known for its rigorous logic.

Professor Setima Victor, who was teaching the class, was an intellectual middle-aged witch, wearing a black professor's robe, a pointed wizard hat and thick black-framed glasses, and looked somewhat similar to Professor McGonagall, but she was less serious and solemn than Professor McGonagall, and looked more approachable.

She spoke in a calm voice, lower than Professor McGonagall's. "Arithmancy is a form of divination that uses numbers to interpret a person's character and destiny, as well as the movement of planets and stars, in order to predict the future. Another name for it is 'numerology'."

"Unlike crystal ball reading, tea leaves or palmistry, which are based on interpreting vague images or inferring the intrinsic relationship between food from random shapes and random words, arithmetic divination is based on a series of familiar operations with strict rules."

These words that distinguished the difference between divination and divination won Hermione's favor. The little witch nodded repeatedly with sparkling eyes.

"The ancient wizard Pythagoras first proposed that "the world is built on the power of numbers", and wizards began to explore the magic of numbers and developed arithmetic divination. Ancient arithmetic divination is very troublesome to use, so I won't go into details here. Students who are interested can come down and discuss with me later."

"In the 13th century, arithmetician Bridget Wenlock first identified the magical power of the number 7, and since then, arithmetic has entered a new era..."

"This semester we will learn a divination method to predict a person's personality through his name. What is needed is very simple, just a pen, a piece of paper and the ability to spell, add and subtract..."

"The most widely used divination method is to extract three main numbers from a person's name, namely the personality number, the soul number and the world number, and then interpret the results through a series of theories and methods based on the interpretation of the numbers. First, let's get to know the numbers..."

"The number 1 represents... The number 2 represents..."