“Yawn…” A few days later, in the Hogwarts Great Hall, at the Slytherin table, Will yawned as he cut into a sausage that was almost bursting.
Sylvia handed him the ketchup, noting Will’s dark circles.
“What’s been up with you these past few days? You haven’t been out sneaking around every night, have you?”
“No, I just got too engrossed in studying.” Will yawned again as he spoke, wondering if he should drink a Draught of Living Death this weekend and then sleep soundly for the entire weekend.
The intense Ancient Runes study of the past few days had yielded significant results; his Runes progress was now at LV1 (89/100), and even his Charms experience had increased considerably.
If anyone else had said they were so absorbed in studying that they forgot to eat and sleep, Sylvia might have been skeptical, but coming from Will, she didn’t doubt it at all.
“You haven’t been staying in the Room of Requirement every night these past few days, have you?”
“Otherwise?
The Room of Requirement is much more comfortable than the dorms.” Ever since Will had requested a “comfortable and livable room” from the Room of Requirement, he rarely returned to his dormitory to rest.
Anyway, he had a single room, so no one would notice if he didn’t go back.
“That’s true,” Sylvia thought for a moment.
That “comfortable and livable room” was not only spacious and luxurious but also warm and cozy.
Although the lack of windows was a major drawback, Slytherin dorms didn’t have windows either.
This couldn’t help but give Sylvia some other ideas.
“Will, can I also stay in the Room of Requirement?”
“Hey, hold on. There’s an Eastern proverb that says, ‘Men and women should not touch each other intimately.'” Will righteously refused Sylvia.
“Instead of thinking about these things, why not think about what we’re going to do in class later?”
Today’s first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts Class.
The young Wizards basically did whatever they wanted during this class.
Some would sleep, some would play around, some would read books, and some would catch up on homework.
In any case, no one would listen to Professor Quirrell stammering stories on the stage.
Albanian Vampires, old hags—no one cared.
Will usually spent the time reading and gaining experience.
At the Professor’s table, Dumbledore looked at the yawning Will, his expression unreadable… “Today, today we will talk about… about… Ancient… Wendigo, and, the Dark… Dark Wizard… Metis’s inven-inven-invented Wendigo Transfiguration spell.” Professor Quirrell stammered through his lecture.
Just as he finished enunciating the incantation for the Wendigo Transfiguration spell, Will, half-asleep, suddenly looked up and raised his hand high.
This was quite attention-grabbing, and even some of the students who were messing around looked at Will in surprise, wondering what this top student was up to, as Professor Quirrell’s classes were generally considered to be on par with Professor Binns’s.
“Mr. Be-Behrens, is there… something… you need?” Professor Quirrell had never encountered a young Wizard raising his hand in class before.
“The spell structure of the Wendigo Transfiguration spell is very similar to Runes, and even the incantation pronunciation is close to several Ancient Runes. However, to my knowledge, those Runes do not have a Transfiguration effect. How did Metis use those Runes to create a Transfiguration effect?” Will’s question plunged the young Wizards in the classroom into confusion and shock.
As first-year Wizards, many didn’t even know what Runes were, yet Will was already discussing spell structures with the Professor.
This feeling was like zoning out in math class and then having your math teacher discuss advanced calculus with the top student in your class—utterly baffling.
“Who am I, where am I, what are they talking about?”
“What is this guy talking about?”
This was the reaction of most young Wizards.
Professor Quirrell’s gaze swept over the noisy classroom, and he walked over to Will: “This, this is the… characteristic of Runes, and the… effect of combining it with… with… Rune structure… structure variations, for example…”
Will’s face twitched as he listened.
Professor Quirrell’s speech was incredibly frustrating.
In about ten minutes, Professor Quirrell stammered a lot, and Will only felt a headache.
The man hadn’t explained it clearly at all.
Seeing Will’s confused gaze, Professor Quirrell sighed: “Mr. Be-Behrens, after… after class, come, come to my office… I, I will… tell… tell you about Runes…”
“?” A look of great confusion appeared on Will’s small face.
For the latter half of the class, Will was completely uninterested in listening.
He kept deliberating in his mind whether he should go.
He even considered whether to run straight to the Principal’s office to find Old Dumbledore for help after class; but then how would he explain knowing Professor Quirrell’s identity? This story is hosted at novelping.com.
After much thought, Will finally arrived at Professor Quirrell’s office.
Lord Voldemort’s most urgent task right now was to obtain the Philosopher’s Stone.
If he were to act against Will and expose himself prematurely, there would be no benefit at all.
What would be the point?
And if he could gain a large amount of experience from this, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
After all, every time he consulted Professor Flitwick, he gained experience.
Professor Quirrell, at least, was an excellent graduate and a proper Professor, merely hiding his true abilities on weekdays to conceal Lord Voldemort.
Just in case, Will had also given Sylvia a heads-up, telling her to find Dumbledore if she noticed anything unusual about him later… “Professor.” Will pushed open the door.
Professor Quirrell was leisurely drinking tea, leaning back on the sofa and gesturing for Will to sit.
He completely lacked his usual timid demeanor, appearing confident and elegant, as if everything before had been a disguise.
Will appropriately showed a look of surprise: “You are…?”
“Sometimes, a proper disguise can make many people underestimate you, and also allow you to avoid a lot of work. I am just a new Professor, and I don’t really want to take on too much trouble.” Professor Quirrell poured Will a cup of black tea.
“I used to not understand the master-apprentice system among Wizards, but later I realized that a Wizard’s energy is limited. We don’t have too much energy to give to mediocre people. I can only choose intelligent students in this way.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Will sat opposite him, feeling a bit suspicious in his heart whether this was Professor Quirrell or Lord Voldemort, but he quickly filled his mind with thoughts of shock, as Lord Voldemort was also a master of Legilimency.
However, it was better to fill his mind with extraneous thoughts.
He didn’t want to use Occlumency right now and draw attention.
Old Dumbledore might talk about privacy with him, but Lord Voldemort wouldn’t.
“This is not just a compliment; Mr. Behrens, intelligent, excellent students always receive special treatment; you know, Behrens, when I see you, it’s like I see my past self; intelligent, confident, excellent, only you lack a little bit of humility compared to me.”
“Professor Quirrell” had a nostalgic expression for his youth, his tone somewhat wistful.
Will was now certain; this was definitely Lord Voldemort taking over.
“Then, Professor, please instruct me on that part of the Rune structure variations.” Will blinked his eyes.
He clearly saw that when he called him Professor, “Professor Quirrell’s” smile grew even brighter.