After dinner, Vid and Michael arrived at Umbrella House and found it was already filled with people.
Harry and Neville were lying on the table, looking miserable as they worked on their homework; Theo was whispering with Leian about how to write the Herbology paper. Padma sat by the fireplace flipping through a book, while the Weasley twins were fiddling with their new invention in the practice area.
Out of all the SSC members, Hermione was the only one missing.
"Hermione's not here?" Michael asked directly, "Did she run into trouble again today?"
"Probably," Harry turned his head at the sound, with a mixture of sympathy and relief on his face, "It's almost the holidays, and those lower-grade students are just like Fanged Flyers, bursting with energy, running everywhere. She and Ron have been so busy they barely touch the ground lately."
Last year in the Care of Magical Creatures class, Hagrid excitedly introduced a new species he had just bred—the Fanged Flyer, which was supposedly a crossbreed between a Manticore and a Fire Crab.
Harry wasn't interested in how these two vastly different creatures could crossbreed; he only knew that in that class, they had fully realized the chaos a creature could cause.
These strange beings were not only ugly but also extremely aggressive, irritable, hard to control, and could even explode unexpectedly, quite terrifying.
Fortunately, Hagrid was receptive to advice, and amidst unanimous objections from all the students, he finally gave up the idea of including the Fanged Flyers as a regular class.
Unfortunately, as Hagrid's friends, Harry and the others were often forced to take on tasks like "taking a Fanged Flyer for a walk," "feeding a Fanged Flyer," and were left frazzled by these creatures each time.
Although he felt a little sorry for his two friends, after witnessing the destructiveness of the lower-grade students, Harry more than once thought of the Fanged Flyers and was more than once grateful—that he wasn't actually chosen as Prefect.
Vid had just put down his backpack when Neville, looking gloomy, came over and asked hesitantly and quietly, "Vid, do you have time now? Can... can you help me look at this homework?"
"Of course I can," Vid said, "You know I don't have to do homework now. About this—"
He glanced down at the parchment with only its title.
"—the analytical homework on Forgetfulness Potion. Which part do you find confusing?"
"Professor Snape asked us to analyze... analyze the impact of adding concentrated sneeze grass at different times... on the potion's... directionality," Neville stammered, "I've checked several books, and they only mention significant effects..."
While speaking, he also took out his notes, which were recorded with lots of information in a messy way, generally earnest but lacking method.
Vid nodded and said, "Forgetfulness Potion is actually a N.E.W.T. level potion. We're currently only studying the principles; the real purpose is to analyze the properties of several magic potion materials. Without practical experience, it's indeed easy to feel bewildered."
"Concentrated sneeze grass is a powerful emotion and perception regulator. It can precisely target the body, mind, emotions, or memory, activating specific components in the potion and then stabilizing them quickly. The timing of its addition determines its effect."
"Next, let's analyze its impact on directionality from five aspects..."
As he spoke, he pulled out a blank piece of parchment, sketching a flowchart in simple lines, listing critical points in the brewing process while explaining and analyzing.
With Vid's quill constantly sketching and writing, Neville's eyes gradually lit up, nodding repeatedly.
He felt he completely understood it now, and after Vid finished explaining, Neville even felt the homework paper almost forming in his mind.
He thanked Vid and hurried back to his seat, quickly jotting down those fleeting inspirations.
When Vid looked up, he saw Harry and the others also writing furiously, and Michael curiously asked Theo and Leian, "What are you busy writing down? Our homework this week is on Soothing Potion."
"It is, but Professor Snape will surely assign this paper too, right?" Leian said, looking weary, "If I don't write it down, I'm afraid I'll forget again when the time comes."
Michael sympathetically looked at their dark circles and turned to Vid and complained:
"Look at these poor guys; they might be writing two potion papers tonight!"
"By the way, our recent homework has been multiplying by itself. We're almost on holiday, and students from other grades are starting to play around, yet we're still drowning in work!"
Fred and George suddenly looked up, feeling like they were being talked about.
Although they hadn't done anything wrong, they still guiltily moved their little gadgets further inside, lest these fifth-year students tormented by O.W.L.s see them and stir up even more unrest.
Padma heard this, proudly puffed up her chest, "That's you! I finished most of my homework already during Magic History class. Now it's all completed!"
She had a strong sense of superiority, nudging Michael aside and plopping down in front of Vid, pulling out the Prefect's manuscript filled with writing.
"Vid, Vid, take a look at this!" Padma urged eagerly, "Recently in Spell Class, we learned about building protection spells, but I don't quite understand this part..."
Vid took it, glanced over, and suddenly felt something wasn't quite right.
He looked up and saw everyone—except for Neville, who was sweating while busy writing potion homework—all gathered around, ears perked up waiting to listen, with quills and notebooks ready.
Vid chuckled helplessly, "You all don't understand? This content should be well explained in the book 'Resident Magic,' right?"
Theo nodded honestly, then shook his head, "I looked... but didn't understand it."
"I also don't understand many parts. Of course, the exam parts I probably get," Padma said, "But several parts seem related to Runic Language, which is beyond my knowledge range."
In reality, besides a few exceptional students, most were in a state of being half-understood while learning.
Their inner haze and confusion might last for several years, only to realize when encountering more profound knowledge or related actual work after graduation.
But the SSC members were different; they had gotten used to—
Every piece of content they learned came with clear lines, and every difficult part would become thoroughly understood.
So now, they found this chaos of seemingly half-learned content unbearable.
Vid smiled, pulled out a new piece of parchment, and began helping Padma with analysis.
Not only Neville and Padma, but everyone had accumulated many questions during this time. They silently ordered everyone's questions, letting one person ask a question sequentially, then gave the chance to others.
Their topics were diverse, involving potions, spells, Ancient Magical Runes, Magical Creatures, herbs, astronomy, and even Magic History.
And Vid welcomed them all, his answers always concise, precise, hitting the core as if every question in his mind had a pre-built answer database, only needing extraction.
Just then, the door of Umbrella House opened, and Hermione walked in, snowflakes still on his shoulders and hair, cheeks flushed from the cold, looking a bit fatigued.