Next, please！

Indeed, as the ring had mentioned, after Halloween, Quirrell's face became increasingly pale, and his body would occasionally twitch.

However, this suited Professor Quirrell's persona well, and apart from Tewell's deliberate observations, it didn't attract the attention of other students.

Meanwhile, Tewell himself had immersed into the busy teaching routine, blending theory with practical lessons, which was quite suitable for Hogwarts.

Particularly, as students discovered that theoretical learning could enhance practical skills, they began to value the knowledge in their textbooks more.

Of course, Tewell's mind was occupied with his own affairs:

- Digesting the duel with Professor Flitwick (completed, feeling the peculiar charm of white magic, diverting some attention to this aspect).

- Dumbledore's weekly Transfiguration research (significant progress, even causing the badges to react, can't afford to miss it).

- Private lessons with the Percy quintuplets (considering it as lesson preparation until finding the next opponent).

- Researching the nature and instincts of wizards on Navi (progressing slowly but seeing benefits, requires continuous study).

- Exploration of the four elements (progress nearly negligible, found only three books in the Restricted Section, one incomprehensible, two useless).

- Research on the Unforgivable Curses (on hold!).

- Wizard's Chess practice (surpassing Percy completely, can now sustain a game for over half an hour).

- Marauder's Map (performing as expected, need to improve proficiency in alchemy and map completeness to further address the magical flux issue).

- Training with dummy figures (obvious limits, without improvement, the combat level will plateau around that of the Percy quintuplets, on hold temporarily until personal comprehension improves).

- Minor ghostly magic (a product of imitating ghosts, detaching from the body, seems to have a higher potential than training with dummies, priority increased).

- Philosopher's Stone theft plan (Quirrell's focus has shifted to Snape, progress has slowed down again, but Wizard's Chess is progressing well, can prompt Quirrell appropriately to prevent premature death; if he's going to die, he should at least finish the job).

In just over two months, Tewell had accomplished so much.

Despite being accustomed to the busy schedule of study and research, he still felt a hint of fatigue.

Of course, this was also because there were too many secrets in this school, leaving him reluctant to rest.

With plenty of time still remaining and things progressing according to plan, he decided to take it step by step.

First on the agenda was the Marauder's Map.

He was somewhat dissatisfied with the map's roughness, and there were only a few secret passages marked, ones he himself had noticed. If Harry and his friends were to hide in one of these passages, he wouldn't be able to detect them.

However, to create a more detailed map would require a considerable amount of time to explore every detail of the castle, which he deemed not worth it.

The best approach would be to obtain the original Marauder's Map and merge the two maps. By combining their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses, he would naturally obtain a map that best suited his needs.

"Knock, knock, knock." The knocking interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in." The door automatically opened, revealing five figures jostling outside.

It was the Percy quintuplets, who attended his private lessons in the evenings.

Percy, with his Prefect badge shining on his chest, confidently led the way in, while the other four followed stealthily behind.

Tewell poured five cups of tea for them; his office now only had that since he had finished the pumpkin juice last night.

"I recall our private lesson hasn't begun yet. What brings you here?" George nudged Percy forward, encouraging him to take a seat in front of Tewell.

Percy took a sip of tea and said, "Since your Wizard's Chess skills are superior to mine, we discussed and decided to find a more formidable opponent for you."

Now approaching mid-November, the dummy figures faced the threat of expiration once again, so they were eager to find the next sparring partner to play chess with the professor.

Tewell folded the parchment in his hand. "There's no need. It would seem as if I only give you private lessons because of Wizard's Chess."

Cedric and his companions exchanged a comforting glance.

"Oh, by the way, who were you looking for?" Cedric asked.

"...It's Ron," Percy hesitated for a moment before reluctantly speaking.

"Perfect!" Tewell was still considering how to find an excuse to play wizard's chess with Ron legitimately.

Now that Ron was coming voluntarily, wasn't it just perfect?

Seeing Tewell's obvious smile, Percy's resolve strengthened — learning wizard's chess well would definitely please the professors!

"Well, since that's the case, bring Ron along when you come tonight," George hurriedly interjected, taking large strides forward.

"Professor, what about the training dummy?"

Over the past two months, they had learned a lot of practical skills from the training dummy.

Though they were forced to learn, each time they ended up suspended from the ceiling, but it was still learning!

Their progress was remarkably evident; all four of them were among the top ten at the Halloween game, firmly dominating the third-year Quidditch game rankings.

Tewell waved his hand dismissively, "Let's add another month, but that's the limit. If we keep battling, that dummy will collapse."

Moreover, a month later, he wouldn't need these people to play chess with him.

The five of them immediately broke into joyous smiles.

A month was sufficient; they had nearly reached the limit of what they could learn from the training dummy. Another month wouldn't significantly enhance their training effectiveness with the dummy, so they were content with that.

Their objective achieved, they intended to leave.

However, at that moment, Tewell halted the Weasley twins.

"George, and Fred, do you have your badges with you?"

The twins turned back with some confusion, "The ones from Halloween? We've been carrying them."

As they spoke, they retrieved them from their pockets.

"Give them to me for now. Don't worry, I'll just make some improvements for you, and I'll return them to you later."

The twins felt somewhat reluctant; the badges were so useful, they could even replenish magical energy and be reused.

However, since the badges were given by the professor, and they could get them back, they left with peace of mind.

Tewell took the two badges, inspected them, and contemplated how to improve them.

He didn't have time to explore the castle's details, but the Weasley twins did!

As long as he could devise a detection spell for their badges, automatically charting the terrain they had visited, and then feeding it back to the map, it would be fine.

Of course, easier said than done; there were quite a few issues involved.

The biggest was the problem of magical energy reserves.

A badge could only contain the magic of a few Shield Charms; once depleted, it would become ineffective and need recharging.

Now, if a continuous detection spell was added, it would likely need recharging every few hours.

Not to mention whether the twins would be willing; just the frequent recharging would be enough to make the students notice something unusual.

So, he still needed to enhance the magical energy storage inside.