Half an hour before the afternoon classes began, Ryze walked out of Professor Babbling's office.
His harvest during the noon break had been quite rewarding.
On one hand, he had successfully found a reasonable explanation for the sudden emergence of his Divination talent. That explanation would serve as groundwork for the future—especially for locating Peter Pettigrew and eventually getting his unfortunate cousin released from prison.
On the other hand, he had already filled up his daily quota of Curse Energy ahead of schedule.
Judging by the lingering aura in the area, the Curse Energy there had not yet been completely drained. The only reason he had stopped absorbing it was because his capacity for the day had already been filled.
"Hagrid's hut and the Ancient Runes office will be my fixed activity spots every day," Ryze muttered to himself. "At least until I find a more stable source of Curse Energy."
Looking at the small increase in Spell Power displayed on his panel, he nodded with quiet satisfaction.
The growth was modest, but being able to clearly see his own progress—even if it was just a little bit stronger each day—filled him with anticipation for the future.
Since his Curse Energy was already full, Ryze had originally planned to behave himself during the afternoon Herbology class. His intention was simple: listen carefully, take notes, and avoid causing any trouble.
However, it seemed someone else had a different plan.
Although Herbology had a designated classroom, Professor Pomona Sprout preferred a more practical teaching style.
Professor Sprout wasn't very tall. She always wore a thick, patched gray hat, and there were usually traces of soil scattered across her clothes and hands. Rather than stepping into the classroom, she simply clapped her hands at the door and spoke briskly.
"Everyone, bring your books, parchment, and quills. Follow me to the greenhouses outside the castle."
She paused briefly before adding another instruction.
"Except for the end-of-term review, which will take place in the classroom, most of our Herbology lessons will be held in the greenhouses. In the future, you can head there directly."
With that, she led the group of more than sixty students along the stone path beside the castle.
This particular class was shared by Slytherin and Ravenclaw.
Normally, there was very little conflict between those two houses. Even when competition existed, it was usually a civil rivalry—one between ambitious aristocrats and clever scholars.
Serious fights were rare.
At least, that was the general perception.
After graduation, many Slytherins relied on their powerful family backgrounds and personal ambition to secure high-ranking positions within the Ministry of Magic. From there, they often advanced further along the path of politics.
Meanwhile, a considerable number of Ravenclaw graduates became senior civil servants, researchers, or strategic advisors within the same institution.
From that perspective, the relationship between the two houses could almost be described as harmonious.
Ryze himself didn't hold much prejudice toward Slytherin.
Ambition, a desire for power, and strategic thinking—those were qualities he possessed as well.
The problem was that modern-day Slytherin had yet to completely escape the lingering influence of blood purism and power supremacy left behind by Lord Voldemort.
In addition, the most visible Slytherin clique in the original story—the Malfoy group—was honestly unimpressive.
Whenever Draco Malfoy encountered Harry Potter in the early and middle stages of the story, his intelligence seemed to disappear entirely. He and his followers often behaved like petty bullies.
If it weren't for the handsome actors who portrayed them in the films, Ryze doubted they would have gained much popularity at all.
Still, Ryze had no interest in becoming involved in the love-hate rivalry between Draco and Harry.
He planned to remain a spectator.
Unfortunately, Malfoy didn't seem to share that sentiment.
For some reason, the boy appeared rather dissatisfied with Ryze—despite the fact that they shared a bloodline that was less than three generations apart.
As they walked toward the greenhouses, Malfoy's gaze repeatedly lingered on him.
From time to time, Malfoy leaned toward his companions and whispered something.
Each time he did, the boys around him would glance at Ryze with thinly disguised contempt.
It wasn't difficult to guess what kind of things Malfoy was saying.
Even Anthony and Terry noticed the situation.
Anthony leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Why are those Slytherin guys pointing at you? Do you have some kind of grudge with Malfoy?"
Ryze shook his head slightly.
"We're not familiar. We only met once. He's the son of another cousin of mine."
He shrugged casually.
"His brain might have some problems. Just ignore him. If he really can't control himself, he'll probably come looking for trouble sooner or later."
Anthony's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait—Malfoy is related to you?"
Anthony knew that Malfoy came from a pure-blood wizard family—one of the wealthiest and most influential among them.
If that was the case, then Malfoy's mother must also be a witch from another powerful pure-blood family.
During their dormitory conversation the previous night, everyone had briefly talked about their family backgrounds.
Ryze had mentioned that his parents were missing and that he had grown up in a Muggle orphanage. A year ago, Ailey had discovered him using a wand, which led to the realization that he was different.
But it wasn't until he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter a month earlier that he had tracked down a distant cousin through Hogwarts records and learned more about his origins.
Looking at the situation now, Anthony suddenly understood.
"So your cousin is a witch from a pure-blood family?"
Ryze nodded slightly.
"In terms of bloodline, yes."
He paused before continuing calmly.
"But my father and that cousin were expelled from the family over ten years ago. Apparently we were considered 'impure.' Since then, we've had no real connection with them."
By the time Ryze finished explaining, they had already arrived at the vegetable-patch greenhouses outside the castle.
However, the moment Ryze looked toward the greenhouse ahead, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Perched quietly on the railing in front of the greenhouse was a black raven.
Unlike an ordinary bird, faint red light shimmered around its body, making it stand out clearly.
As soon as this special raven appeared, Ryze immediately forgot about Malfoy.
After all, how could a brain-damaged nephew possibly be more important than a raven connected to the system?
Before entering the greenhouse, Ryze casually reached out and touched the raven.
The moment his fingers brushed its feathers, a notification appeared in his vision.
[Raven Task Requirement]
Become the student who earns the most points in this Herbology class. (0/1)
Once the task condition appeared, the raven spread its wings and flew into the air.
It circled slowly above the greenhouse, as if patiently waiting for the task to be completed.
"So that's all?" Ryze muttered.
"I thought it would be something like a riddle from the Ravenclaw eagle knocker."
Compared to those complicated riddles, this task felt almost like a game.
Perform well in class.
Earn the most points.
Receive a reward.
Simple and straightforward.
However, Ryze soon realized there was a problem.
"Herbology and Potions are my weakest subjects right now…"
During the summer vacation, he had already discovered that his progress in those two fields was significantly slower than in Charms and Transfiguration.
When practicing magic, he often experienced moments of sudden understanding, as if knowledge naturally clicked into place.
Herbology and Potions were different.
Studying them reminded him of memorizing biological inheritance laws and chemical reactions during high school in his previous life.
He had already read through textbooks like One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions several times. He had even summarized the key knowledge points and studied various supplementary materials.
The theoretical knowledge wasn't the problem.
If necessary, he could probably recite entire sections from memory.
The issue was practical experience.
Because he lacked real hands-on training, he wasn't familiar with many cultivation methods for magical plants, nor did he fully understand the delicate techniques required to process certain herbs.
Even Nymphadora's performance in these subjects was merely average.
At the very least, she never dared to let Ryze handle herbs or brew potions entirely on his own.
If Ryze had any advantage in these classes, it was probably his cooking experience.
In both of his lives, he had developed decent culinary skills.
Cooking required careful control of ingredients, proper timing, and balanced proportions—skills that might prove somewhat useful when handling magical plants or brewing potions.
Hopefully, those abilities would give him at least a slight edge.
Fortunately, this Herbology class was shared with Slytherin.
If it had been paired with Gryffindor instead, things would have been much more difficult.
Hermione Granger was a terrifying theoretical genius.
Neville Longbottom, meanwhile, was practically a natural-born plant expert.
If those two were present, Ryze's chances of securing the highest score would drop dramatically.
Ryze rolled his shoulders lightly and took a slow breath.
Then he straightened his posture.
Today, he would have to give this class his full attention.
After all, if he wanted to complete the raven task, he would need to compete with the best students in Ravenclaw—and win.
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