On a day near the end of March, Lewis finally completed another exhausting day of work.
He had finally finished reconstructing and adapting all seven years of Miranda Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells.
He estimated that with another week of work, he would be able to finish adapting the most mainstream spellbooks, including The Book of Spells, Magical Theory, The Fifth Element: Exploring, Spell Achievements, A Guide to Medieval Sorcery, Eighteenth-Century Charms, and Forgotten Ancient Magic and Spells.
After all, despite the sheer number of books, much of their content was actually repetitive.
Once he had gotten started, Lewis discovered that the task looked much more difficult than it actually was.
Take Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells and The Book of Spells, for example.
Every spell in Standard Book of Spells was also included in The Book of Spells. The additional content in Standard Book of Spells was mostly simple summaries.
As long as he finished adapting The Book of Spells, more than half the content in the other spellbooks wouldn't need to be adapted again.
In addition, books such as Magical Drafts and Potions, Advanced Potion-Making, and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, along with books on Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Alchemy, were much easier to adapt.
Most of these books focused on recording phenomena and practical procedures, with relatively little theoretical material. Naturally, there was far less that needed to be reconstructed.
Lewis planned to sort and compile the contents of these books after completing the basic adaptation work, then separately copy them into a series of books, modeled after the Yongle Encyclopedia or the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The books would be divided into two sections: magic and encyclopedic knowledge.
They would be called The Book of Causes and The Book of All Things.
But that was all work for the future.
For now, Lewis still had to finish his Potions homework.
Apart from History of Magic, this was currently the only subject in which Lewis still had homework.
Because of Lewis's outstanding grades, most of the Hogwarts professors had already granted him the privilege of not having to complete assignments.
The only two exceptions were Professor Binns, the old-fashioned ghost who had never heard of making exceptions, and Snape.
Lewis seriously suspected that the old bat was deliberately making him do homework as revenge for the humiliation he had suffered when Lewis instantly defeated him in the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow.
However, being exempt from homework was a privilege.
Lewis couldn't exactly report Snape simply because the professor hadn't granted him that privilege.
As a student, all he could do was drag his exhausted body to the library as usual and work on his assignment.
The library was extremely popular among students who were serious about studying.
Every seat was occupied by young wizards hunched over their books, studying and writing diligently.
Even some of the empty seats had been occupied by water bottles, quills, and other belongings.
Even Hogwarts wasn't immune to the ancient tradition of saving seats in the library.
Lewis wandered around the library until, in a particularly secluded corner, he spotted several familiar figures sitting together and quietly discussing something.
Shirley had probably been sitting for too long. She shifted uncomfortably, straightening her back and stretching her body.
When she raised her head, a smile instantly bloomed across her face.
She waved at Lewis, signaling for him to come over.
Lewis found an empty seat between her and Penelope and sat down.
"Lewis, you're here too!"
Hearing the commotion, Hermione also lifted her head from the mountain of books in front of her. She blinked her tired eyes and greeted him.
The combined pile of books belonging to the girls was enormous, taking up almost half the table.
The girls worked together to move the stacks of parchment covering the space in front of Lewis.
Hermione accidentally knocked one of the books onto the floor.
Lewis immediately bent down to pick it up for her.
It was New Principles of Numerology.
Lewis blinked.
He remembered that the textbook for Arithmancy was also included in his basic adaptation plan.
But the book they were supposed to use this semester was Numerology and Grammatical Forms.
New Principles of Numerology was probably something they wouldn't study until a year or two later.
He hadn't expected Hermione to already be reading it.
What a hardworking girl.
"Thank you, Lewis."
Hermione sighed and took the book back.
"Lewis, the club's class is this weekend again. You probably won't have time to prepare the lesson materials, right? Should we suspend training for a while and focus on preparing for the final exams?"
To Lewis's right, Penelope rubbed her temples.
"That wouldn't be right," Lewis replied. "At Hogwarts, we have final exams every year, and every year the older students have to take their graduation examinations. There's still plenty of time before the finals. If we stop training now, then what's the point of the Scholars' Society?"
As if!
Jiana's plan to expand her influence within the Ministry of Magic was about to begin.
Right now, she needed Lewis to help recruit talented people.
How could the Scholars' Society possibly suspend its classes at a time like this?
"But… if the classes continue, even if you can keep going, the other wizards won't be able to handle it," Penelope argued.
She was right.
The problem still needed to be solved.
"I think we can make some slight adjustments to the curriculum and reduce the members' workload instead of increasing their study burden," Lewis said as he considered the solution.
"Perhaps we could make the Scholars' Society's system more specific and clarify everyone's responsibilities. That way, things would be easier for everyone."
Hermione put down her quill and offered her suggestion.
Dividing responsibilities was indeed a good way to reduce the workload.
Lewis nodded in agreement.
At present, whenever Lewis taught a class, Penelope was the one who had the hardest time.
"Oh? So you have another brilliant idea?"
Penelope raised an eyebrow, clearly somewhat resistant toward the younger witch.
Back when the Scholars' Society was still merely a training class, most of its organizational structure had been established with Penelope's help.
But Hermione had contributed nothing during that period.
As soon as she joined, however, she immediately entered the core team of the Scholars' Society and proposed dividing the classes into different groups.
The first reorganization afterward had been centered around Hermione's proposal.
In Penelope's eyes, Hermione had become a scheming girl who wanted to replace her.
It gave her a strong sense of crisis.
"Don't be like that, Penelope."
Shirley gently patted Penelope's hand.
As one of the witches closest to Lewis, she had spent an entire summer with Hermione and understood her quite well.
The young witch was certainly intelligent, but she wasn't particularly calculating when dealing with other people.
She was basically focused on the issue rather than the person.
Shirley felt that Penelope's concerns were completely unnecessary.
"Fine, fine. Since you support her too, let's hear what Miss Know-It-All has to suggest."
Since even Shirley supported Hermione, Penelope could only accept the suggestion.
Hermione didn't notice the student council president's hostility at all.
She seriously explained her thoughts.
"I noticed that after the Sirius Black incident, the Scholars' Society gained another batch of new members. You could say that we've now expanded throughout the entire school."
"The way we previously changed the class division was correct, but it still wasn't enough. We need more administrators, as well as a standardized set of procedures."
After Lewis had expressed his intention for Hermione to take over the Scholars' Society's administrative work once Penelope left, Hermione had bought many books on Muggle management.
It seemed she really had learned a lot.
Lewis couldn't help nodding in agreement.
"Then… all right. Let's formulate a new set of rules."
Penelope made her decision decisively.
"The next class is coming soon. We need to finalize everything before then."
She glanced at Lewis.
Lewis was the true core of the entire Scholars' Society.
Since he had also agreed, Penelope stopped objecting.
Otherwise, she would only lower her standing in his eyes.
Every wizard present was extraordinary in their own way.
Lewis was the genius universally acknowledged throughout Hogwarts, possessing astonishing talent and influence.
Shirley was a princess who had received royal education, giving her an elevated perspective and the ability to identify the key issues with remarkable precision.
Penelope Clearwater had been a prefect for four years and was now Head Girl, giving her excellent organizational skills and experience.
Hermione Granger was the top student of Gryffindor, possessing meticulous logical thinking and extensive knowledge of both magical and Muggle subjects.
And so, the four of them immediately got to work.
They quietly discussed the matter in the library, repeatedly deleting, revising, and refining their ideas.
Finally, before the library closed, they had drawn up a large sheet of parchment containing the new regulations.
If you want to read 60 chapters ahead of the public release, head over to: Patreon.com/RedString