Ethan could see that no matter what preparations they made, if Snape wanted to dock points, he would always find an excuse.
However, he was here to acquire knowledge.
If Snape did his duty as a teacher, Ethan could plug his nose and bear it.
During this class, Snape taught them a simple potion to cure boils.
Ethan was paired with Neville, and while brewing his own portion, he constantly corrected Neville’s mistakes.
Snape kept pacing around them, tossing out sharp barbs from time to time.
Harry finally couldn’t help but argue back, resulting in another point immediately docked.
It was baiting—pure, unadulterated baiting.
Every Gryffindor in the room realized right then just how overbearing and unreasonable Snape could be.
Once Potions class ended, everyone climbed the steps out of the dungeon.
The little Gryffindor lions were thoroughly demoralized.
In their very first week of school, they had managed to lose twenty-seven points.
Even though they weren’t the only ones, and even though Ethan and Granger were earning points back in other classes, they simply couldn’t keep up with Snape’s deductions.
If this trend continued, Gryffindor would surely finish last among the four houses.
Moreover, it was painfully obvious that Professor Snape despised them—he had scolded nearly every Gryffindor, and even Hermione had received a harsh lashing.
Perhaps he disliked everyone who wasn’t in Slytherin.
Of everyone, only Ethan knew the inside story, and even he found it hard to judge.
Snape was clearly showing signs of a somewhat unhinged psyche.
On one hand, he hated Harry Potter’s father; on the other hand, he felt a deep, agonizing guilt for causing the death of Harry’s mother.
Yet when facing Harry, his resentment and displaced anger clearly won out.
The innocent got caught in the crossfire, and the entire Gryffindor house was dragged down with him.
But there was nothing they could do.
Twisted and dark as Snape’s personality was, his mastery of Potions was absolutely flawless.
His lectures were clear and easy to grasp.
Despite his venomous tongue, even Neville understood why that particular potion cured boils.
Harry tried to lift his spirits and asked, “Ethan, do you want to go to Hagrid’s hut for lunch?
I remember him saying he makes delicious rock cakes!” “I think I’ll pass,” Ethan said after a moment’s thought.
“I promised Bones and her Hufflepuff friends that I’d tutor them for an hour at noon.
I want to make sure they master the needle transfiguration before their Transfiguration class this afternoon.” Most of the Hufflepuff badgers were indeed a little slow on the uptake.
They weren’t very good at thinking outside the box, acting more like marionettes who had to be told exactly what step to take next before they would do it.
But both Transfiguration and Potions were quite different from the absolute rigor of mathematics.
Transfiguration heavily tested a wizard’s imagination and conviction.
You had to firmly believe in your heart that you could do it to minimize the chances of failure.
As for Potions, brewing a truly effective magical draught also required the coordination of wandwork and spells.
If a Muggle were to follow an exact, flawless recipe with precise steps, they still wouldn’t be able to produce a potion.
However, Ethan figured that after so many years, the professors must know the differences between the houses and would adjust their pacing accordingly.
If he guessed correctly, Hufflepuff’s second Transfiguration class would still be spent practicing the needle transfiguration.
Of course, Ethan preferred that these Hufflepuffs learned it under his guidance first.
Harry and Ron gave him understanding looks.
“In that case, Ethan, let’s head over together at three this afternoon.” Ethan nodded, parted ways with them, and walked up to the second floor alone.
Hermione caught up to him in a few quick strides, looking deeply puzzled.
“Professor Snape left us a mountain of homework.
Is it really worth spending your time on other people?
Sometimes, saying no is a virtue.” “Because I promised them,” Ethan said with a smile.
“And since I promised, I must follow through.” “I hope you don’t regret it later.” Hermione rolled her eyes and hurried up the stairs.
In the study room, the Hufflepuffs hadn’t arrived yet.
Ethan wasn’t in a hurry.
He sat down and began working on his Potions homework while he thought, but he hit a wall after writing only a few lines.
The homework assigned by Snape was highly difficult and required consulting a massive number of reference books in the library.
He pondered for a moment, pulled out a piece of paper, and began writing and drawing on it.
Once finished, he drew his wand and murmured, “Geminio!” Instantly, a stack of identical papers appeared on the desk.
“White, you’re so early!” Several Hufflepuff girls entered, looking both surprised and contrite.
Ethan waved them over, and they immediately ran to him, bringing with them the sweet scent of candy.
He distributed the notes on the table to them, his eyes encouraging.
“For the next hour, practice according to this.
You already know the theoretical knowledge very well; you just need more practice.” The little badgers looked closely and found that the notes actually broke down the wand movements, detailed to the point of marking the exact arc of each swipe.
Seeing these brand-new, meticulous notes, the girls were even more touched.
Some even reached out to hug Ethan or plant a grateful kiss on his cheek.
Ethan politely declined each one, simply urging everyone to seize the time to practice.
During this hour, the badgers were fully focused, as if injected with a sudden burst of energy.
They practiced the movements over and over again.
Gradually, someone finally succeeded in transfiguring a match into a silver needle.
Five, ten, twelve…
A cascade of notifications awarding experience points began to pop up rapidly in his mind.
[Successfully guided needle transfiguration, Exchange EXP +4] [Successfully…
+5] What pleasantly surprised Ethan the most was that every time a badger completed the needle transfiguration, he received at least four experience points!
Amidst the joyful cheers, Ethan excitedly shook hands with everyone, and then, with a broad smile, watched them head downstairs before their first afternoon class.
Gryffindor had no classes this afternoon.
Ethan cleaned up the classroom, sat on a bench, and checked the experience points he had accumulated over the past four days.
[Random Exchange EXP: 312/100] [Free Exchange EXP: 312/300] [Intelligence: 9] [Magic: 7] [Spirit: 4] “It only took four days to gather enough for a free potential point!
This is so much faster than studying by myself in a corner!” Without hesitation, Ethan allocated it to [Magic].
Although his [Spirit] attribute was the lowest, he currently needed [Intelligence] and [Magic] more.
He had to prioritize learning the Disillusionment Charm.
Every day, he ran into ghosts floating around the corridors, and some even dared to slide into the study room to sit with him.
He had been practically drooling in envy for a while now.
Lunchtime had already ended, so Ethan had to return to his dormitory.
He changed out of his soiled clothes and ate some candy and cake.
Around three in the afternoon, Harry’s owl, Hedwig, flew into the dorm and dropped a note.
Harry and Ron were waiting for him at the entrance.
He hadn’t seen them all day, and had no idea where the two of them had gone to play.
A few minutes later, he met up with them.
Together, they left the castle, crossed the grounds, and walked toward Hagrid’s place.
Hagrid lived in a small wooden cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with a crossbow and a pair of galoshes outside the front door.
When Harry knocked, a low, booming bark immediately echoed from inside.
“Back, Fang!
Back!” The cabin door opened a crack, revealing Hagrid’s massive, bearded face.
He was as giant and imposing as ever.
“Welcome, Harry!
Oh, and who are these two?” Harry quickly said, “This is Ron Weasley, and this is Ethan White.” “Another Weasley?” Hagrid glanced at Ron.
“I’m quite familiar with those Weasley twins.” Ron gave an embarrassed smile.
Fred and George were notorious troublemakers.
Even though their academic performance was excellent, Ron often heard professors roaring at them in the corridors.
“And Ethan White…
that name sounds a bit familiar, too.” Hagrid went into thought.
Ethan said, “Mr.
Hagrid, we met briefly outside the Leaky Cauldron before.” “Ah!
It’s you!” Hagrid realized, turning to Harry.
“Remember what I told you?
Before I went to get you, I took a little fellow to Diagon Alley.” He said quite happily, “I never expected you two to become friends.” “Ethan is great!
He’s been helping us with Transfiguration!” Harry said eagerly.
“That’s brilliant!
Come in, come in!” Hagrid opened the door.
The three of them walked in one by one.
The cabin was very small, with absolutely no trace of an Undetectable Extension Charm.
Hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling water over an open hearth, and a massive bed sat in the corner, covered in a patchwork quilt.
Ron swallowed his spit at the sight of the hams.
Ethan looked around the room, a touch of homesickness flickering in his eyes.
It had been a week; he needed to write a letter home.
His family didn’t have an owl and didn’t know the address, so even if they wanted to write to him, they wouldn’t know where to send it.
“Make yourselves at home, kids!” Hagrid busied himself bringing out a plate of stone-like rock cakes.
When they landed on the plate, they made a heavy *clack*.
Harry and Ron stared suspiciously at the cakes on the plate—had Hagrid made a mistake and served actual stones?
Ethan was handed a rather grimy cushion by Hagrid.
[Unicorn Tail Hair] [Exchange Value: 2 (Magic, Magic Affinity)] Ethan froze on the spot.
[Magic +1] [Magic Affinity +1]