After class, Will walked over to Luke and asked, “What were you thinking about earlier? I noticed something was off with you.”
Luke looked at him in surprise.
“Why are you paying attention to me instead of listening in class? What are you up to?”
As he spoke, he took a step back.
Before Will could react, Luke added, “What could you possibly be up to? Come on, let’s go have lunch. Class is over.”
The two headed to the cafeteria together.
Watching Will pile more and more food onto his tray, Luke couldn’t help asking, “Are you really going to eat all of that?”
“Of course. Don’t you know I’m still growing? I need to eat more,” Will replied matter-of-factly.
Luke looked at the mountain of food, easily three times his own portion, and decided not to comment.
“Are you coming over this weekend?” Will asked.
“My mom says she hasn’t seen you in forever and misses you. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if she’s my mom or yours.”
“Cough, cough…” Luke nearly choked on his juice as he laughed.
“Maybe it’s just because I haven’t visited in a while.”
“But not this weekend. Hermione’s coming over, and I promised to teach her a new piano piece.”
Ever since discovering that Hermione enjoyed the piano and had real talent, Luke had begun “composing” many famous piano pieces from his previous life for her to learn.
They included Richard Clayderman’s Autumn Whispers, Beethoven’s Für Elise, Maksim’s Croatian Rhapsody and Flight of the Bumblebee, along with Joe Hisaishi’s Summer from Kikujiro and Castle in the Sky.
He hoped playing the piano would help Hermione relax, since she couldn’t spend every waking hour studying magic.
Luke had always loved Richard Clayderman’s and Maksim’s performances.
In his previous life, he had even attended concerts by both of them.
Since he had already become a “plagiarist,” borrowing a few more masterpieces didn’t bother him anymore.
“Is she the girl who came to the farm with you last time?” Will asked curiously.
“Who is she?”
Luke had taken Hermione to visit his grandfather’s farm before, and naturally they had also stopped by Will’s house to see the animals.
“A good friend. She’ll be my classmate next year.”
“Really?” Will looked surprised.
“There are plenty of girls at school who like you, but I’ve never seen you get particularly close to any of them.”
“It’s not like that.” Luke rolled his eyes.
“Eat your lunch, or class will start before you’re finished.”
Will finally stopped talking and concentrated on eating.
Speaking of which…
Luke suddenly wondered whether Hermione knew she wouldn’t receive her Hogwarts letter this year.
Although they were both eleven now, Hogwarts admissions were determined by age on September 1st.
Hermione’s birthday was in September, so she would receive her letter the following year.
“I’m done. Let’s go,” Will said after finally finishing his enormous lunch.
“Just bring your ears to music class this afternoon,” Will said casually.
Luke smiled.
“Are you sure you won’t need your eyes to read the music?”
Will answered by lightly punching him on the shoulder.
“Thinking about rebelling again?” Luke laughed.
The two continued bickering all the way back to the classroom.
The final lesson of the day was music class.
“Huh? Class started several minutes ago. Why isn’t Ms. Denise here yet?” someone whispered.
“No idea. Maybe something happened.”
A few minutes later, Ms.
Denise hurried into the classroom, looking unusually excited.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said.
“I was watching a live news broadcast.”
Looking around the classroom, she smiled.
“I’m sure you’re all curious about what it was.”
She walked over to Luke with an excited expression.
“I was watching the Grammy Awards, and our classmate, Luke Kirk, has won another Grammy! This time, he won Best Song Written for Visual Media for ‘Let It Go.’ Congratulations, Luke!”
She immediately started applauding.
Since Helen and Anna were in the United States with James for the ceremony, Luke had almost forgotten that the Grammy Awards were being held today.
“Thank you, everyone.”
Luke stood up and gave a slight bow.
“Some of you may not know much about the Grammys,” Ms.
Denise continued.
“Many musicians never receive a single nomination in their entire careers, let alone win. Yet Luke has now won twice.”
Has Ms.
Denise become my fan?
Luke wondered.
She seems even more excited than last time.
“How about we ask Luke to perform ‘Let It Go’ for us?”
Before anyone else could respond, Will suddenly shouted,
“He’s learned a bunch of new pieces! Ms. Denise, ask him to play one of the difficult ones!”
Luke suddenly felt the urge to pull out a sword and split Will in half.
…
“Oh?” Ms.
Denise looked at Luke with surprise.
“You have a lot of new pieces?”
Luke sighed.
“No… Will isn’t joking.”
Will immediately added, “I’m serious! He’s even going to teach one of them to a girl this weekend!”
The entire classroom instantly erupted.
Even Ms.
Denise looked intrigued.
No one at school had ever heard Luke being particularly close to any girl, much less teaching one to play the piano.
In fact, very few people had ever even heard Luke perform.
“Will…” Luke said through gritted teeth, feeling his magical power stir involuntarily.
“Well then,” Ms.
Denise said with a smile, “how about you play one of your newer compositions for us? Preferably one of the more challenging ones.”
“Alright.”
Luke walked over to the piano, sat down, and took a deep breath.
“Is the teacher really asking me to play something difficult? Then I guess this music lesson is going to turn into a music appreciation class.”
“That’s fine,” Ms.
Denise replied with a smile.
“It’ll also help everyone understand the gap between themselves and a genius.”
Luke smiled inwardly.
Ms.
Denise, since you asked for something difficult…
let’s go with Maksim’s Flight of the Bumblebee.
“Alright, then I’ll start with something lively.”
…
When the performance ended, Ms.
Denise didn’t react at all.
“Ahem… Ms. Denise? Was that lively enough?” Luke asked awkwardly.
“Ms. Denise?”
“Ah!” Denise finally came back to her senses.
“Luke, that was incredible!”
“So… would you like to hear something even more difficult?” Luke asked.
“You can actually play something harder?” Denise asked in disbelief.
“I can give it a try.”
This time, Luke chose Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Étude No.
5, “Feux Follets”.
…
“This one is a bit more difficult than the last piece. What do you think, Ms. Denise?”
If he hadn’t taken the Marrow Cleansing Pill, Luke doubted his body would have been capable of performing such a demanding piece.
The students had no idea what those two performances represented.
However, as the music teacher at an elite school, Denise possessed enough professional knowledge to understand just how difficult they were, especially the second performance.
“I… I… I need to see the principal.”
She hurriedly gathered herself.
“Preview next lesson’s material on your own.”
With that, she rushed out of the classroom.
She never returned, even after school ended.
…
The small incident didn’t affect Luke’s daily routine.
Ever since proposing the theory that mental strength plus magical power equaled complete magic, he had devoted even more time to mental strength training.
Over the weekend, Hermione came to Luke’s house.
“Congratulations on winning your second Grammy, Luke. Did your mom and Anna attend the ceremony this time?”
“Thanks. Yes, Mom took Anna this year.” Luke smiled.
“I stayed home to practice magic. I’ll be going to Hogwarts in the second half of the year.”
After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Do you already know that you won’t be starting Hogwarts until next year?”
“I do.”
Hermione’s expression immediately became dejected.
“Hogwarts requires students to be eleven years old before September 1st. Anyone born after that has to wait until the following school year.”
Being the same age as Luke yet having to start school a year later clearly disappointed her.
Luke gently patted her head.
“You can still study magic at home. I only get to start one year earlier, and I’ve already finished reading most of the textbooks anyway. Going to Hogwarts is mainly for practical lessons.”
He smiled before continuing.
“Oh, and I’ve recently come up with a new theory.”
“Mental strength plus magical power equals complete magic.”
As Luke changed the subject, Hermione immediately became interested.
“I’ve been practicing the Mental Strength Training Method too. Have you discovered something new?”