Chapter 26 The Two Treated Differently
Basil decided to put his get-rich-quick scheme aside for the time being.
His priority was to give the class schedules to the other first-year students,
especially since he couldn't enter the girls' dormitories.
Fortunately, Hermione lived up to her reputation as the "Queen of Books" from the original stories.
She got up at just 7:00 AM.
She planned to have breakfast in the Great Hall, read in the common room, and wait for Basil.
Thus, the class schedule problem was solved.
Under Ron's sullen expression, Basil, with Hermione beside him, headed to the second-floor hospital.
Then, they met up with Harry, who had already been discharged, and went directly to the Great Hall on the first floor.
Along the way, aside from some casual conversation,
Harry voiced his doubts: "I think Quirrell is acting very strange. You know I woke up when Hagrid carried me to the Great Hall entrance. I just saw Quirrell's eyes."
"But being rescued by Dumbledore didn't make him feel relieved. On the contrary, his eyes were filled with utter despair, as if the world was ending."
No one answered Harry's questions.
Basil was blunt, suggesting that Voldemort might be hiding in Quirrell's shawl.
His despair stemmed from his consideration of telling Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's reaction made him realize he had no choice but to persist.
But no one believed Basil's 'guess,' even with his Arthurian legend.
Harry bluntly stated that he might be mistaken, and that Basil's theory was impossible.
He argued that Dumbledore would intervene if he knew.
Ron went even further, saying, "Compared to Quirrell's shawl, Snape's large black cloak is more likely to hide Voldemort."
Hermione's eyes softened, taking Basil's joke, and she chuckled
.
Basil could only focus his attention on the castle in frustration.
But it was in this way that he discovered something serious.
He was troubled by it for the next few days.
Hogwarts' layout was bizarre.
Not only were the staircases like in the movies, with their shifting paths and sudden disappearances halfway through, but
the focus wasn't even on the stairs.
Instead, it's the doors and reference points.
Compared to them, there are many staircases: 142 in total. Some staircases are narrow and shaky, and a step might suddenly disappear halfway up, but those are minor issues.
First, those doors not hidden behind sliding panels and hanging curtains—don't be fooled by their obvious appearance; they actually conceal secrets.
Each door has its own temperament.
You have to deal with them properly before they open.
Some require politeness, some require you to poke the right spot, some require rough treatment, some require you to tickle them, and some doors open directly onto walls, with ghosts waiting to scare you—
these are the better ones.
Some aren't doors at all; they're walls that feel like doors, knock on them, or look like doors.
Once you've memorized the locations of all these doors and staircases,
something even more absurd happens.
Because everything in the castle moves.
The people in the portraits will wander around, the armor will wake up at night and find new positions to squat on
the reference points you've memorized, often changing positions overnight.
Basil ended up going to the wrong place several times.
He thought he was in the boys' restroom, but it turned out to be the girls'.
Even more absurdly, Professor McGonagall was right next door.
If Basil hadn't suddenly summoned a Boggart, transforming it into a fake Voldemort with Snape's face and Voldemort's body to create chaos and cause
gasps ,
he might have been caught.
And that was with a complete Hogwarts projection in his mind.
Okay, he was just nervous and forgot he could teleport.
As a result, under Snape's orders, Filch began thoroughly searching packages to see if anyone had purchased Polyjuice Potion or its ingredients, such as African tree snake skin.
This surprise inspection caused many upperclassmen couples who were using it for a bit of fun to complain.
Besides these problems, interpersonal relationships became another major issue for Basil.
Because of Hermione's tight control, almost no girl wanted to stay near him for long.
After the conversation in the Sorting Room came out, everyone assumed they were a couple.
He was locked in!
Luckily, he was only a freshman.
Furthermore, Basil now realizes that before Hermione even officially met him, he had already offended all the first-year students.
Even the Ravenclaw students who shared common interests with Hermione were no exception.
Only the upperclassmen would pay her any attention.
So, besides him, Hermione only had Harry, Ron, and Neville as friends.
No wonder Ron complained in the original story that Hermione didn't have a single friend.
Logically, Hermione, who loved reading, should at least have Ravenclaw friends in the library.
So that's why.
Basil suddenly realized that, judging from their initial performances,
Hermione was like the protagonist of a traditional face-slapping story.
Lowly blood, ambitious, constantly slapping others in the face, mastering everything she learned.
Harry, the original protagonist, was more like the villainous senior brother.
Noble blood, lackey Ron, admired by everyone, though not entirely incompetent, he didn't live up to his reputation.
Basil didn't intend to change his interpersonal relationships.
After all, Hermione was a world-renowned high-ranking character, giving Basil the golden "Doctor of Conjuration" echo.
If they really broke up, Snape, who was shipping them, wouldn't let Basil off the hook.
He wouldn't get preferential treatment in Potions class.
You heard right, preferential treatment.
On Friday's Potions class, Harry was once again criticized, just like in the original story.
However, this time, instead
of an angry "Sit down!" when Hermione kept raising her hand and Harry couldn't answer, Hermione
said, "Mrs. Granger, you answer."
After Hermione answered, it was again, "Potter, it seems your ability doesn't match your reputation. Gryffindor loses two points. You should learn from Mrs. Granger. Gryffindor gains one point because Mrs. Granger answered the question."
In the following lesson on simple potions for treating scabies,
Basil was surprised to find his Potions Mastery talent had awakened.
Harry's stats also changed after he began brewing his first potion.
His Potions Mastery - Weak also awakened.
Next, Basil casually helped Neville, who had inexplicably been deliberately intimidated by Snape and made a mistake.
He also gained a point,although Snape later deducted it from Harry's score.
"Not helping classmates. Harry Potter loses one point!"
Ron was very unhappy about this after Potions class .
"How come you didn't get points deducted, you even got points!"
Although Hermione pointed out that Gryffindor still lost points overall, Ron was still a little indignant on the way to Hagrid's place.
However, Basil's favorite class wasn't Potions.
Although he was very good at brewing potions due to his [Plant Affinity] and [Potion Mastery] , able to control the reaction the moment the magical magnetic field touched the boiling cauldron, he still preferred Transfiguration.
Transfiguration was their first class after the start of the semester, on Monday.
Professor Cat didn't transform into a cat and sit upright on the table like in the movies.
This disappointed Basil, who wanted to pretend he didn't know how to pet cats. Just as the data indicated, Transfiguration was indeed more rational.
Although the principle was still just my guess, the thought process during casting was clear, specific, and logical.
Take the match they transformed in this class as an example.
To understand the composition of a match—wood, a small red dot (not requiring detailed knowledge here, but it consists of oxidizer, catalyst, and flammable material)—you need to clearly define yourself as a needle, visualizing its size, thickness, and color in your mind.
For even greater detail, you can visualize patterns.
This is how the Transfiguration Spell works.
However, more importantly, all Transfiguration Spells are essentially the same incantation.
At most, you add the object to be transformed.
This prompted Basil to immediately spend 100 gems to create a new spell card: the Transfiguration Spell.
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(End of Chapter)