Professor Flitwick glanced over and said, "Oh, that's a very clever way to guide them—a shortcut, certainly, but it will definitely help you master the spell faster. Wade, this must have been your idea."
Wade's eyes curved into a brilliant smile.
Professor Flitwick, who had initially looked serious, smiled along with him. He waved his Wand, duplicating the parchment a dozen times so that each group could have a copy. At the same time, he cautioned, "This is a reference, but you still need to truly master it. I'll collect the parchment in ten minutes, and I hope by then you've all mastered the Levitation Charm! For those of you who can already make your feather float—why don't you try making it spin in the air?"
The students in the classroom resumed their practice, and Professor Flitwick walked around, offering guidance.
Wade directed his feather, making it draw circles and then squares in the air, before he began silently reciting poetry. Anthony watched enviously but didn't aim too high, instead continuing to practice the Levitation Charm repeatedly.
After class, the Gryffindors rushed off to their History of Magic lesson. The Ravenclaws had no more classes that morning, so Wade habitually headed to the library. Michael had intended to go with him but was stopped before he could even get up.
"Hey, Michael." His roommate, Terry, slung an arm around his neck and asked, "You've been disappearing after every class lately, going to study with Wade, right? I heard Gryffindor's Granger and Longbottom are with you too?"
A circle of young Eagles around him looked on with bright, eager eyes.
Michael raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "That's right, and I haven't been hiding it from you! Why the big fuss?"
"So, Longbottom being able to master the Levitation Charm is the result of your study sessions?" Lisa quickly asked. "I thought you were just doing homework together."
"Michael, could you spare some time to teach me too?" Padma asked. "My Incendio Charm isn't very smooth yet."
Padma was a very beautiful Indian girl, and Michael had always been quite smitten with her, but when it came to spellcasting, Michael wouldn't take credit for someone else's achievements.
"While I'd be happy to teach you the spells I know, Padma, it's Wade who's really good at teaching, not me—we're all learning from Wade," Michael said honestly.
"Wade, huh—"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
In their eyes, Wade Gray was exceptionally aloof, handsome but rarely smiling, and remarkably talented yet detached from the crowd. Though the same age, he didn't enjoy jokes or games, didn't attend parties, and didn't even talk about Quidditch. He always disappeared right after class and didn't return to the tower until Curfew. While other students usually chatted or did homework in the common room, Wade rarely appeared there, making the young Eagles feel unilaterally isolated by him.
All in all, he was a very distant person.
This was also why few people usually approached Wade to talk—the young Wizards were a little afraid of him.
...
The library was deserted. Madam Pince wasn't watching the students; instead, she was slowly turning the pages of a book. When she saw Wade enter, she merely glanced up before lowering her head back to her book.
Two months into the school year, Madam Pince was already familiar with all the first-year students who frequented the library. She knew exactly which ones she could trust to be left alone and which ones needed constant supervision to prevent noise, damage to books, or even fights.
Wade was one of the students she could completely trust.
Wade, familiar with the layout, went directly to the section on Alchemy books—he had recently started making time to study Alchemy.
Alchemy studies the composition, structure, and magical properties of the four basic elements, as well as material transformation. It is closely related to Potions, Charms, Ancient Runes, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. At Hogwarts, one can only choose to study Alchemy if they achieve a "Good" or higher in all these subjects during their Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWL) Exams, making it a very difficult discipline. Lower-year students, without the necessary knowledge base, would find it hard to master this subject through self-study.
Yet, in their daily lives, the shadow of Alchemy was everywhere—the perpetually burning candles in the Great Hall, the 142 moving staircases in the castle, the seemingly alive portraits on the walls, the door knockers that posed different questions, and even Flying Broomsticks, the Golden Snitch, the Sorting Hat, Wizard's Chess, and Remembralls.
Basic Alchemy wasn't actually that difficult to get into. It was just that alchemists always liked to use obscure terms, abstruse expressions, and exaggerated fantasies, which inadvertently raised the difficulty of learning.
Wade's reading comprehension skills had been cultivated and trained for over twenty years in his previous life, and he possessed sufficient knowledge and vocabulary. Therefore, though challenging, he had devoured Alchemy books one by one.
Earlier, he had been reading books published by Nicolas Flamel years ago—Basic Alchemy and Analyzing Alchemy. More recently, Wade had started on The Book of Nature's Secrets: The Fifth Element.
This book was written by the twelfth-century alchemist Ramon Llull, and the so-called fifth element was the Philosopher's Stone.
"This book is actually a bit outdated, because Nicolas Flamel successfully created the Philosopher's Stone, and he proved that many theories in this book deviate from the facts."
A voice suddenly came from beside him. Wade looked up in surprise to see the Weasley twins standing there. It was George Weasley who had spoken.
"You're a first-year?" Fred simply pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, saying, "It's a bit too early to be studying this."
"But I have to say, you have excellent taste! Alchemy is the most fascinating subject in magic!—Muffliato." George said, waving his Wand to prevent Madam Pince from rushing over.
"But Hogwarts doesn't teach it until sixth year—"
"It's such a stupid decision. Why can't they offer Alchemy in first year?"
"Most students wouldn't dare go home for the summer then," Fred said, feigning seriousness, "because they'd be guaranteed a 'T' (Troll) on their final exams."
"Except for us—"
"We're naturally good at it—"
"So we started self-studying a year ago!" George said. "As your seniors, here's a tip, little Ravenclaw, you should start with Basic Alchemy! Nicolas Flamel is the greatest alchemist still alive! His books are more worth studying."
Wade spread his hands. "But I've already finished that book."
"Wow!" Fred raised an eyebrow. "What about Analyzing Alchemy?"
"Read it."
"Then—what about On the Diversity of Species?" George asked.
"Thomas Aquinas's work from the twelfth century?" Wade hesitated, then said, "I've seen it, but I haven't read it in detail, because it doesn't seem to involve the application of magic."
George said, "Actually, that's because of the limitations of the time; he had to entrust the book to Muggle publishers, so the magic-related content was very subtly written. Of course, we recommend the revised version by Esnel Vargas from the 18th century. He added over two hundred types of magical creatures and thousands of magical materials, making it more comprehensive and accurate."
The Weasleys had read at least twenty or thirty books on Alchemy, and they had all studied them in depth, talking about them as if they were old friends.
Wade felt as if he had found a treasure and immediately took out parchment to write everything down. If he didn't have another class to attend that afternoon, he wouldn't have let them leave. They chatted so happily that when they parted ways, they didn't even notice—they hadn't asked each other's names.
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