23: January and Instruction

January 1st.

The new semester began.

John didn't feel much about it.

Hermione had returned to school yesterday, feeling disappointed that Harry and Ron hadn't found anything about Nicolas Flamel. Yeah, it seemed like Harry was being Harry and hadn't seen the card.

"John, are you studying alchemy?"

In the library.

John was engrossed in reading "Introduction to Alchemy." Seeing this, Hermione temporarily set aside her search for Nicolas Flamel.

She examined John's reading list. In addition to alchemy, there were books on runes.

Hogwarts offered Ancient Runes as a course, but it was an elective for third-year students.

Viewing John as her academic rival, Hermione couldn't stand to be outdone. She immediately checked out a stack of books on runes.

However, it didn't go well for her.

When they met the next day, Hermione had two large dark circles under her eyes, looking like a hybrid between a panda and a lion (due to her hair).

...

Ancient Runes were too difficult for first-year students, a fact Hermione had to reluctantly admit.

"I swear I've seen that name before, but I just can't remember where."

Since Dumbledore had advised Harry to stop visiting the Mirror of Erised, Harry had often dreamt of his parents being killed by Voldemort.

This spurred him to refocus on finding information about Nicolas Flamel.

Despite Harry's constant insistence that he had seen the name somewhere before, Hermione and the others had nearly given up on finding Nicolas Flamel in the library.

They no longer continued their previous exhaustive search, instead using their break times to browse through books.

"I swear I've seen it before," Harry began to doubt whether he had ever actually seen the name.

They gathered to discuss their findings, while John, not far away, alternated between reading "Introduction to Ancient Runes" and alchemy books. This method helped him avoid getting too tired.

"Wick, why are you reading that? Are you planning to become a Knockturn Alley wizard selling trinkets?" 

Since watching the Quidditch match with John, Malfoy no longer ignored John just because he couldn't beat him.

Seeing John's interest in alchemy, Malfoy instinctively thought John intended to make money by selling items like the Weasley twins.

"Just making some small things. Alchemy is a vast field. Have you heard of the Sword of Gryffindor?" 

John closed his book, his eyes unfocused.

Malfoy looked puzzled. "What's that?"

"A legendary silver sword commissioned by Gryffindor from goblins, said to be found only by a true Gryffindor. But that's not important. Even the Sorting Hat is a product of alchemy."

Through arduous study, neglecting even his physical training, John finally managed to grasp the basics of runes.

This meant he had mastered the foundation of runes. Now, he only needed to master alchemy to proceed with goblin forging.

However, the process was challenging.

He had nearly exhausted the supply of Blast-Ended Skrewt tails from Hagrid, yet still hadn't made significant progress.

Malfoy nodded, half-understanding. As a member of the Malfoy family, he wasn't short on magical artifacts.

It seemed to Malfoy that John, coming from a Muggle family, had a hard time and needed to make things on his own.

...

In the evening, there was an astronomy class.

Everyone gathered in the Astronomy Tower, where Professor Aurora Sinistra taught them about the position of Sagittarius.

After finishing the day's courses, John encountered Quirrell, who handed him a note.

Upon opening the note, it only indicated a location.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

John didn't really want to go, but he feared arousing Quirrell's suspicion, so he set aside his plans to study alchemy.

...

Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Feeling that he had led this good student gradually into darkness, Quirrell began to shed his disguise.

Quirrell was originally a fairly skilled wizard. If not for accepting Voldemort, he wouldn't have had to pretend to be an incompetent professor.

"Very good, John Wick. It seems you have chosen the right path."

Seeing John sneaking out at night, Quirrell was quite pleased.

Indeed, knowledge is the greatest temptation.

After tasting the power brought by dark magic, even a good student like John Wick had fallen.

"Professor Quirrell."

Upon arriving at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, John felt as if someone was poking needles into his head, attempting to read his thoughts.

He promptly used Occlumency. Since the start of the new semester, John had improved his Occlumency to level 2, but it still felt insufficient.

He allocated his points to Occlumency, upgrading it to level 3.

Level 3 was already quite proficient in Occlumency, enough to deal with a fragment of Voldemort's soul.

On the surface, John appeared excited, like a fanboy conquered by knowledge.

'Oh! He has great talent! This muggle born learned to use Occlumency in his 1st year!'

Voldemort was very satisfied after using Legilimency to enter John's brain. Now John only needed one word from him to become the most loyal Death Eater.

To cultivate a spy planted at Hogwarts, Voldemort spared no knowledge.

Through Quirrell's transmission, he taught John a lot.

Voldemort himself was a powerful wizard with vast and varied knowledge.

Under his tutelage, many areas John didn't understand suddenly became clear.

In the days that followed, John attended classes during the day and went to the classroom for studies at night.

This rapid improvement in his abilities allowed him to successfully become the master of Fiendfyre.

========

[Magic: Level 3 (30/1500)]

[Spells: Alohomora (Level 3), Levitation Charm (Level 4), Transfiguration Spell (Level 2), Disillusionment Charm (Level 3), Lumos (Level 2), Incendio (Level 3), Reducto (Level 3), Fiendfyre (Level 2), Protego (Level 2) ...]

[Skills: Short Weapons Mastery (Level 7), Greatsword Mastery (Level 4), Firearms Mastery (Level 1), Runes (Level 1), Alchemy (Level 1)]

[Blessings: Physical Fitness, Quick Attack, Precision, Academic Scholar, Pilot, Long-Distance Running, Sword Dance, Troll Slayer, Night Stalker]

=========

His magic power hadn't increased much, but his understanding of spells had improved significantly.

(A/N: Salute to his teacher, Lord Voldemort! 🫡)

The best news was that he had unlocked a new skill: [Alchemy (lv1)].

Although it was still at Level 1, John could successfully create a simple magical item.

Creating items with their own will, like the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, would likely require Level 7.

...

"Pss.. it's cold.."

Harry was dragged by Wood into devilish training, not even sparing snowy or rainy days.

"Once we start warming up, the cold will not bother us! This needs to be done if you want to defeat the Slytherin's seeker."

Wood was determined to defeat Slytherin and win the House Cup, which would allow their house points to catch up with Slytherin's.

"Y.. Yeah."

Harry, being Wood's great hope, felt tremendous pressure.

.....

"And that's how it went!" Harry sighed.

Even Hermione and Ron couldn't stand it anymore and, while in the common room, they suggested Harry should skip the match.

Ron proposed claiming he was sick, but Hermione suggested something more extreme—saying he had broken his leg.

This made Harry feel even worse.

At this moment, Neville stumbled into the common room, hopping awkwardly.

Both of Neville's legs were stuck together; he had been hit by the Leg-Locker Curse.

It was obvious that Malfoy had done it, and Ron was furious, ready to confront Malfoy immediately.

But Neville stopped him, not wanting to cause trouble for Harry and the others.

Hermione lifted the curse on Neville's legs, and Harry, wanting to comfort Neville with a Chocolate Frog, reached into his pocket and found a wizard card.

"What's this?"

Harry handed another box containing a Chocolate Frog to Neville, while he paused, staring at the wizard card in his hand.

"That's the card John gave you. He mentioned something about it at the time," Ron recalled the origin of the card.

It was a Dumbledore wizard card. Harry flipped the card over.

Just as he thought this was something John didn't need, his eyes fixed on the small text on the card.

"Ron, Hermione, look at this!"

Harry gasped, his voice trembling slightly.

Ron and Hermione leaned in to see, and they were hit by a wave of excitement.

"Achieved significant results in alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!"

"I knew it! I knew I had seen that name before!"

Harry was ecstatic, feeling that their stalled progress had finally made a breakthrough.

The three of them were extremely excited, and Hermione even jumped up in joy.

Suddenly, Hermione thought of something.

Looking at the mention of alchemy, she said, "No wonder, no wonder John was reading books on alchemy. He knew all along!"

With that, Hermione dashed upstairs and came back from the girls' dormitory with a huge old book.

Flipping through the old book, they finally found information about Nicolas Flamel.

And they learned about the Philosopher's Stone.

________