“Impedimenta! Scourgify!”
Will quickly cast two Spells, sweeping away the spilled Potion.
What Neville had brewed was a genuine Boil-Cure Potion, and touching it would cause painful boils to appear on the skin.
“Idiot!” Professor Snape roared.
“I suppose you didn’t take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills, did you?”
Neville started to cry, sniffling as several painful boils suddenly appeared on his nose.
“Take him to the Hospital Wing,” Professor Snape snapped at Seamus.
“Potter, why didn’t you tell him not to add the porcupine quills? Do you think it makes you look good when he makes a mistake? Gryffindor loses another point because of you.”
Professor Snape had found another opportunity to deduct points from Harry, before redirecting his attention toward Will.
“Why don’t you learn from Behrens, hmm? Learn from him. He guides his classmates and handles accidents promptly. Slytherin gains two points for Behrens’s excellent performance.”
Will suddenly felt a little bored.
He hadn’t gained much experience throughout the entire class.
In fact, Potions Class at this stage wasn’t even as rewarding as helping Professor Snape process Potion ingredients.
He couldn’t help but lower his evaluation of the class.
When Potions Class ended, Will left the classroom and unintentionally overheard Ron muttering to Harry about him.
“Look at that Behrens. I bet he’s Professor Snape’s little Dark Wizard, specifically used against you. Professor Snape really likes him, doesn’t he?”
Will couldn’t be bothered to respond.
Sylvia leaned closer to Will.
“What are you planning to do this weekend?”
“Read, study Spells, and go to detention tonight.”
Will just wanted to grind for experience.
“You’re so boring.”
“Boring? Professor Snape’s six-inch-long, about fifteen-centimeter, essay on the Boil-Cure Potion is quite interesting.”
Will reminded her, “I don’t think he’ll lower his expectations for you just because you’re a Slytherin.”
Sylvia made a sour face.
“Oh dear, we still have Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic assignments to write.”
“Then you’ll probably be spending the weekend buried in books. I’m going to the library now. Do you want to come along?”
Sylvia thought for a moment.
“Of course, but I want to see how you write your essay.”
…
Hogwarts’s library was located on the west side of the Castle.
The space inside was many times larger than it appeared from the outside, thanks to space-expanding magic.
Inside the multi-storied library, hundreds of thousands of bookshelves stretched in every direction, interspersed with brown desks and young Wizards quietly reading.
Automatically moving ladders glided between the bookshelves, while thousands of magic books filled the shelves.
At the far end, the Restricted Section was cordoned off, mysterious and dangerous.
Perhaps because it was Friday, there weren’t many people in the library, making the place feel somewhat deserted.
Will greeted Madam Pince, the librarian, who warned him not to damage the books.
Then Will and Sylvia began searching for the books they needed.
“Sylvia, you’re here too.”
“Hello, Hermione.”
When Will returned to his chosen seat with a large stack of books, he found that Hermione had also come to the library. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
He wasn’t surprised.
After all, Hermione was a veteran overachiever.
“Can you finish reading all these books?”
Hermione was astonished that Will had borrowed more than a dozen books, ranging from Transfiguration and Charms to Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The breadth of his reading was considerable.
“I don’t understand anything, so of course I need to learn more.”
Although Will’s words were humble, to Sylvia and Hermione, they sounded like pure humblebragging.
You call yourself someone who doesn’t understand anything?
In classes these past few days, who was the one turning into a point-scoring machine and answering practically every question the teachers asked?
Will waved his hand.
He really didn’t understand anything.
His skills and experience weren’t maxed out yet, and Lord Voldemort would be making a comeback in a few years.
What would he do if he didn’t become a powerful Wizard?
Didn’t they understand his fear of not being strong enough?
Looking at the two young Witches’ resentful gazes, Will buried his head behind the stack of books and began writing the essay Professor Snape had assigned while also flipping through reference materials.
[You have acquired new Potions knowledge. Potions Experience +1]
[You have analyzed some Potions knowledge. Potions Experience +2]
…
It wasn’t until the sun had set and the candles in the library automatically lit up that Will finally put down his quill and rubbed his sore eyes.
He had spent the entire afternoon finishing the essay Professor Snape had assigned.
Beside him, Sylvia kept peeking over and “borrowing” from Will’s homework.
“Hey, homework isn’t meant for you to copy. You only gain knowledge by doing it yourself.”
Will flicked Sylvia on the forehead.
“You don’t understand. I’m extracting knowledge from the knowledge you’ve already extracted. These are all the essentials.”
Sylvia rubbed her head and spoke with conviction.
Will held his forehead.
When he had first met her, he had thought Sylvia was an arrogant, snobbish young Witch from a pure-blood family.
He had never expected her to be completely different beneath her usual aloof demeanor.
“Will is right, Sylvia. You can’t keep copying his essay. It won’t do you any good.”
Hermione had also finished most of her own essay.
“You’re right.”
Sylvia nodded.
“Then I’ll look at yours.”
“You two continue writing here. My detention time is almost up.”
Will gathered his books and put away his essay.
He planned to consult Professor Snape personally later.
“Detention? You got detention? How is that possible?” Get faster updates on novelping.com.
Hermione had no idea about the incident in the Slytherin common room.
The Slytherin students had kept the news under wraps.
People always thought Gryffindor was the House that violated school rules the most, but in reality, every House had students who broke the rules.
Slytherin students were no less likely to violate school rules than Gryffindor students.
It was simply that Gryffindor students got caught more often.
One shouldn’t actually believe that this group of young Slytherin wizards, made up largely of the “pure-bloods” of the magical world, would all be well-behaved.
Many of their families had relied on questionable means to accumulate their wealth, and their family education certainly wasn’t going to raise their children to be sheep.
In fact, Slytherin often had “fights” among its own students, but everyone tacitly agreed to keep such matters within Slytherin.
Situations like the fight involving Will’s group weren’t uncommon within Slytherin.
The reason Will had received detention was because he had used large-scale, destructive spells.
“Oh, Hermione, it’s like this,” Sylvia quietly explained.
“Bloodline discrimination has always existed. Pure-bloods discriminate against half-bloods, and half-bloods discriminate against Muggles. That’s simply the norm in the magical world.”
Sylvia explained some of the problems within the magical world to the naive Hermione.
Hermione listened with a face full of indignation.
“How can these people be like this? Can they bully others just because of their noble status? Doesn’t the Ministry of Magic do anything about it?”
After all, she was still young and didn’t yet understand the harshness of society.
“But you’re also a pure-blood, and you don’t discriminate against anyone.”
“The Lestrange Family is different. We’re internally divided into three branches, and our branch doesn’t really care about bloodline theories. In fact, my maternal grandfather was even a Muggle.”
Sylvia paused before continuing.
“The Lestrange Family even produced a Death Eater, but our relationship with them is already very distant. We’re only distantly related.”
She paused again before continuing, “And I was originally going to Beauxbatons. My grandmother wanted me to attend Durmstrang. She said that as long as I wrote a letter, I could receive the best treatment at Durmstrang. But I really wanted to come to Hogwarts, and my father supported me, so the family had no choice but to let me study here.”
“So that’s how it is.”
Sylvia’s words left Hermione greatly shocked.
Could students really choose their schools so freely?
“Then why did you want to come to Hogwarts?”
“Well, that’s a secret. I’ll tell you later. But if you’re willing to let me see your essay, maybe I’ll tell you a little earlier.”
Sylvia giggled before going over to look at Hermione’s essay.
…
Let’s not discuss what happened there for now.
Meanwhile, in the office, Will stared at Professor Snape.
“So, you mean Headmaster Dumbledore wants to see me?”
“That’s right. The Headmaster’s office is on the eighth floor of the Castle, and the entrance is guarded by a gargoyle statue. The password is ‘Lemon Drop’.”
Professor Snape held Will’s essay in his hand.
He was also somewhat surprised.
He hadn’t expected Will to complete the essay in just one afternoon.
That attitude was good.
As for Will’s talent in Potions, Snape would need to observe him further.
Will left Professor Snape’s office feeling somewhat bewildered.
Had he attracted Dumbledore’s attention so quickly?