After lunch, Hermione and Julian agreed to go to the Library together to do their homework.
Professor Binns of History of Magic assigned a six-inch (about fifteen centimeters) essay.
It just needed to be finished before the next class, but obviously, they were prepared to finish it ahead of time.
Although Hogwarts Castle looked like a behemoth from the outside, with the help of the Undetectable Extension Charm, its interior space was incomparably vast.
This made Julian and Hermione walk for quite a while before getting from the dining hall to the Library.
The Hogwarts Library was located on the west side of the fifth floor of the Castle, and the space inside was startlingly large.
Crisscrossing bookshelves stood silently, with tens of thousands of books neatly arranged on them according to category and book size, and between the bookshelves were a few medium-brown desks.
There were also a few staircases moving around within them to lead to different floors.
Both of these little ones were book lovers.
As soon as they arrived at the Library, they were as excited as mice falling into a granary.
Madam Pince, the librarian, quickly noticed the two little ones who were grinning from ear to ear with joy.
At a glance, she knew these were probably this year’s new students.
New students!
She hated new students the most.
These overly energetic, mischievous, and chatterbox new students could never remember the Library borrowing rules, and what’s worse, some even damaged books.
Sometimes, she would lend a book out, and when it came back, it looked like it had been through a Wizard war, becoming tattered and torn.
Madam Pince walked over quickly with a stern expression: “Are you two new students?”
“Yes, Madam.”
The two little ones greeted her very politely.
“Remember, no marking, tearing, folding, staining, damaging, or throwing books.
No shouting, no eating in the Library, understand?”
Madam Pince pointed at a Library borrowing slip: “Also, no going to the Restricted Section.
If books from the General Section are to be taken out of the Library, they must be approved by me.”
Hermione and Julian nodded, looking very well-behaved.
This made Madam Pince very satisfied, and her impression of the two of them improved quite a bit.
The two of them found an empty desk and placed their homework and books on it.
As soon as she sat down, Hermione started flipping through books, preparing to write her History of Magic essay.
Julian, on the other hand, got up to look for a spell book.
He had practiced most of the spells in “The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1” to a good extent, and now he urgently needed to learn some new spells.
Although first-year new students would also attend Professor Flitwick’s Charms Class, that learning speed was too slow.
He had to give himself some extra lessons on his own.
Julian walked past several bookshelves, his gaze sweeping across spine after spine of books, when he suddenly saw a familiar name.
Gilderoy Lockhart.
Looking at the book titles again, they were all things like “Break with a Banshee”, “Holiday with Hags”, “Wandering with Werewolves”, and the like.
Flipping through them casually, Julian found that although the titles carried a somewhat sensational tone, the contents were more or less the same.
They were all stories recounting how Lockhart exorcised banshees, werewolves, hags, and the like, somewhat like adventure novels.
Probably because Lockhart’s achievements were all stolen, these stories were also somewhat inconsistent from beginning to end.
Although it didn’t affect the reading, if one looked into it deeply, it would feel very strange.
Even so, these books were indeed written with dramatic ups and downs, and the titles were also eye-catching.
Obviously, Lockhart’s literary talent was far higher than his magical talent.
Putting these books back onto the bookshelf, Julian continued to search for the spell book he wanted.
This was an area at the back of the Hogwarts Library, separated by a rope, containing materials unsuitable for young students to read.
However, Julian was quite covetous of it.
Although some Dark Arts were indeed dangerous, they couldn’t help being immensely powerful.
Might and power never come from a Greenhouse.
Unfortunately, the books here could only be borrowed after obtaining permission with a Professor’s personal signature.
Julian had no way to borrow them right now.
Otherwise, he would be very willing to learn a few powerful Dark Arts attacks.
“Back away, no getting any closer!”
Madam Pince, holding a feather duster, popped out from somewhere and looked at Julian with a scrutinizing gaze: “I warned you just now, you are not allowed to go to the Restricted Section.”
“Sorry, Madam.” Julian took two steps back, indicating that he had no interest in the Restricted Section, “I was just looking for a book and unconsciously wandered over here.”
“I am only a first-year new student, the books in the General Section are enough for me to read.”
Julian blinked his eyes twice, looking completely harmless.
Madam Pince gave a frigid scoff: “It had better be.
What book are you looking for?”
“‘The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3’.”
Hearing the book title, Madam Pince nodded.
Waving her wand, a book flew over from a distant bookshelf.
“Thank you, Madam.” Julian took the book, his mouth as sweet as honey, “You found it so fast, you’re really amazing.”
“Alright, go study, and don’t ruin the book.”
Madam Pince said with a straight face.
After Julian left, a very faint smile finally appeared on her face.
She didn’t hate little Wizards who loved to read, especially obedient and polite ones.
Julian took the book back to Hermione’s side and found that Hermione had already started writing her History of Magic homework.
“I’ve already written half an inch.” Hermione lifted her chin, blinking at Julian, “I’ll definitely finish before you.”
“Shh—”
Julian made a hush gesture toward her.
After glancing at Madam Pince in the distance, he sat in his chair and said in a low voice: “If I write faster than you, can you grant me a request?”
“What request?
First let’s make it clear, you are not allowed to write in huge handwriting.” Hermione tilted her head and whispered into Julian’s ear.
“Rest assured, just tell me whether you agree or not?”
“Agree if you want, I’ll definitely write faster than you.”
When it came to padding out essays, Julian had undergone professional training before.
Coupled with the fact that he was writing in English now, it was even simpler.
Even though Hermione had good academic grades, she had hardly written any essays back in primary school; wanting to surpass Julian was almost impossible.
Pondering over Professor Binns’s left-behind History of Magic homework for a moment, Julian conceived a rough framework in his mind.
First, retell the History of Magic event, then analyze the impact of this event from multiple angles, and finally conclude with a future outlook.
An essay that looked full of content but was actually all formulas was done.
After finishing the conception, Julian picked up his pen and wrote.
He finished writing in less than thirty minutes.
Hermione at the side widened her eyes in shock, looking closely at Julian’s essay.
The handwriting was neither too big nor too small; although it wasn’t very pretty, fortunately it was neat and clear…
one could even say it was excessively neat, looking as though it were printed out.
“How did you manage this?” Hermione picked up the essay and looked at it.
She found that although Julian wrote very quickly, the content was actually passable, which made her somewhat frustrated.
“Want to learn?
I’ll teach you.”
“Alright, alright.”
Afterwards, Julian imparted to Hermione a set of answering and word-padding techniques summarized and refined by countless engineering and medical students.
He let her experience the mighty power of test-oriented education.
On this day, Hermione felt as though her brain had been baptized by miraculous knowledge.
“There’s actually this kind of method?”
Hermione muttered to herself, feeling that her brain had been stuffed with strange knowledge.
“I lost.” Hermione conceded defeat completely, “What do you want me to do?”
“Respected Miss Granger, I wonder if I have the honor of having dinner with you?” Julian took Hermione’s hand and blinked at her.
“Just like this?”
“What else?”
Julian blinked innocently.
What bad intentions could a tiny new student from Slytherin possibly have?
Hermione agreed, but her expression held a somewhat inexplicable disappointment.
At a desk next to them sat a few Slytherin new students, occasionally glancing sideways at the two of them.
“The two of them finished their homework so fast?!”
“Can I borrow his homework to copy…?”
“Useless!
Shut your mouth!”
“So what if they finished their homework?
Friday is Professor Snape’s class.” A Slytherin student said through gritted teeth, “I don’t believe it, Prewett can still have that good of luck in Potion Class!”
Another student beside him poked him with an elbow: “The two of them seem to have started previewing the Potion Class textbook…”
“Kss…”
A sound of sharp intakes of breath rang out.
“Damn it, what’s wrong with those two?!
Today is only Monday!
Why didn’t the Sorting Hat sort them into Ravenclaw?!”
“Reading books for Potion Class is useless, in the end it still depends on practical operation.” Someone stubbornly uttered another sentence.
Julian and Hermione didn’t notice what they were saying at all, deeply immersed in the world of overachievers unable to extricate themselves.
“If you few speak again, get out!”
Madam Pince’s cold voice came from behind those students.
Those students instantly fell silent.
“Wait for Potion Class, and I’ll compete with you again!”