Afternoon of Boredom and Reflection: In the World of Magic

When Jon came out of the Transfiguration classroom, he recalled Professor McGonagall's words but didn't notice the three people behind him looking downcast. It wasn't until the four of them sat down in the Charms classroom that Jon realized something was off with his three roommates.

"What's wrong with you guys? You haven't said a word the whole way," Jon asked.

"It's nothing," Stephen looked up, and Jon saw a strange gleam in his eyes. "We heard you talking to Professor McGonagall just now. Don't worry, Jon."

"What do you mean, don't worry? I'm even more worried seeing you guys like this," Jon replied.

Flynn and Scali also looked up and said in a solemn tone, as if making an oath, "Yes, Professor McGonagall was right. Hogwarts is a powerful school, and we should restore its glory, Jon. We'll work hard!"

Jon: "..."

He was still confused. Did he just lose his memory? What did Professor McGonagall say to motivate them?

Jon didn't have the mood to deliberately understand the strange inner world of the boys. However, he thought that giving them some motivation to learn magic in this way might not be a bad thing after all. After all, the coming years would be turbulent in the magical world.

But would the future changes really unfold as described in the books? Jon couldn't say for sure.

The professor of Charms, Professor Filius Flitwick, was a short man who had to stand on a pile of books to reach the lectern. But no one underestimated this professor with his high-pitched and thin voice when teaching Charms.

Compared to Transfiguration and Potion classes, Charms was always the favorite subject of students.

Jon, who had just been taught by Professor McGonagall to focus, also showed exceptional learning abilities and had already mastered these basic spells.

The teaching methods at Hogwarts were indeed quite different from Jon's self-study. They taught students to guide their magical power through their emotions to perform corresponding magic. This approach could help students quickly grasp magic in the early stages, but later on, they would have to put in more effort to learn how to control their emotions.

Not letting fear or excitement affect the release of magic was a mandatory lesson to become a competent wizard.

Jon had skipped the initial guidance steps, and although he made up for it through diligence, he still encountered many problems when attempting advanced magic.

For lunch, they had mashed potatoes and bread slices, vegetable salad, ham and chicken legs, and pumpkin juice.

Jon was not satisfied with the Hogwarts lunch, especially the beverages, which were always very monotonous. Pumpkin porridge was acceptable, but he didn't like pumpkin juice.

However, water was always available, so Jon decided to write a letter home and ask for some tea leaves. At least Hogwarts would provide hot water.

He finally understood why Bella liked to eat at McDonald's so much.

After the morning classes, he was now even more looking forward to the dream lessons at night. Helga promised to chat with him every night, not for too long, to minimize the loss of magical power. Jon wondered what progress she had made in studying the book he gave Helga yesterday.

Compared to the morning, the afternoon classes were much more boring. Professor Sprout was a rather gentle witch—perhaps gentleness was a tradition in Hufflepuff. She always had a smiling expression when dealing with students from every house and was generous in awarding points to her own students.

Remembering things was Jon's strong suit, so Herbology classification couldn't stump him. He deliberately lagged behind a few Ravenclaw students in completing the task, which allowed him to earn points without drawing too much attention. However, Potions class was not as simple as just being boring.

Without the added bonus of the "Half-Blood Prince" Potions book, Jon could only be an ordinary student, even though he wasn't particularly skilled in Potions to begin with.

Avoiding Snape's gaze, Jon didn't underestimate the class despite its dullness. After all, he had the idea of brewing a Blood-Purifying Potion. Speaking of which, the Blood-Purifying Potion was created by Salazar Slytherin. Perhaps he could ask Helga about it when he had the time.

Jon's efforts didn't show on the surface. He teamed up with Stephen to prepare the potion, and Stephen seemed to be putting in more effort than him. Jon intentionally controlled the pace of their group so as not to attract too much attention from Snape.

He hoped Snape would direct all his attention to Slytherin students, so Jon could focus on listening to the lectures.

Snape didn't disappoint Jon's expectations. He indeed paid little attention to Hufflepuff students. Praises and criticisms were reserved for Slytherin, and the inconspicuousness of Hufflepuff students saved them from Snape's harsh scrutiny. It seemed that without Harry Potter starting school, Snape hadn't become as twisted.

But things might not be as easy next year.

Having successfully endured the classes, Jon didn't choose to join Stephen and the others in the common room. Instead, he asked Stephen to take the cauldron back for him and made an excuse to wander around the castle. When no one was around, he sneaked into the library on the fifth floor.

The library was a good place to ponder. Most importantly, it was still early in the school year, so there weren't many people there. Once it got crowded, he might have to find another spot.

Jon randomly pulled out a book from the shelf. He wasn't interested in the restricted section's collection. Powerful curses weren't limited to just the Unforgivable Curses, and he remembered those Unforgivable Curses that had appeared multiple times in the original series.

No matter when, mastering a foreign language was indeed helpful.

The book Jon took from the shelf was "A Guide to Magical Life," which contained many fascinating customs of the wizarding society from a long time ago. Jon found it interesting and could continue reading it.

The life of wizards reflected the magical environment of that time on a certain level. For example, in ancient times, wizards had exceptional abilities and could accomplish miracles like building Stonehenge through communication with the heavens and earth. However, in the Middle Ages, wizards' powers significantly weakened, and they could hardly resist diseases like the Black Death.

But the Church's rumor at the time blaming wizards for the Black Death was incorrect because the Black Death originated from the poor hygiene of the European people, not a curse. In fact, wizards were far from what they were depicted as today, divided into laughable factions like dark wizards and white wizards.

Jon didn't think kindness was incorrect, but having no power to fight back while being kind was a problem.