The first week of life at Hogwarts went on in an uneventful manner.
Strictly speaking, Hogwarts is indeed a very outstanding magic school. The teachers of several important courses are all adult wizards with superb and strong abilities (except for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course); the students' daily diet and living are quite complete, and life here is very comfortable; the library of Hogwarts is also one of the largest libraries in Europe, with nearly 10,000 books of various types...
Perhaps it's the complicated and troublesome stairs that make people feel a little dissatisfied.
There are a total of 142 staircases in Hogwarts. Some are wide and big; some are narrow and small, and shaky; some lead to different places every Friday; some have a step that suddenly disappears halfway up, and you have to remember where to jump over...
But these stairs are understandable...
After all, when Hogwarts was first established, it was not only a school but also a fortress.
Before the 10th century AD, Muggles (ordinary people) were very afraid of magic and persecuted wizards wantonly (witch hunts)... and those young wizards who had not yet received systematic education did not have the power to fight against Muggles; not to mention that there were also magical races such as goblins, giants and werewolves who were also eyeing the wizards and waiting for an opportunity to attack.
So Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin built this castle together as a school to teach young wizards and a fortress to protect young wizards from persecution.
The countless secret passages and complex staircases are designed to prevent Hogwarts from being invaded one day, thereby protecting young wizards and keeping out foreign enemies.
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...
It's a pity that he doesn't have the Marauder's Map (it's already in the hands of the Weasley brothers), and the Basilisk is about to roam Hogwarts at night.
It is not easy to explore Hogwarts. Although the administrator Argus Filch is a Squib, he knows the secret passages of Hogwarts better than most students. Not to mention that he also has an extremely smart cat "Ms. Norris"... It is very dangerous to break the school rules in front of them.
…
In addition to the four main courses of Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology and Potions (three classes per week), every Wednesday night, Jon and his friends would follow Professor Aurora Sinistra to observe the starry sky with a telescope and learn the names of different stars and the orbits of the planets.
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The History of Magic is taught on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The teacher of this course is a ghost: Professor Binns. His voice during class sounds monotonous and boring, making people sleepy...
However, Professor Binns's knowledge of the history of magic was almost amazing. Jon once asked him a few questions about the International Statute of Secrecy (1689) in class, and he answered them without any thought...
From his classical attire, Jon even suspected that he might be a man who lived in the same era as the four founders.
…
Thursday morning's flying lesson was the class Jon least wanted to attend, as Hufflepuff and Slytherin took the class together.
After his first flying lesson, Jon realized that his talent in Quidditch was almost zero.
In his first flying lesson, it took him about ten minutes to get the broom to fly into his hands... and during the flight, if it weren't for Madam Hooch's quick eyes and hands, he would have almost had a close contact with the Hogwarts castle.
Zacharias Smith was the top student in flying class, and starting from Thursday noon, he would spend half an hour every day in the cafeteria bragging about how wonderful it felt to fly and how he would definitely replace Cedric Diggory as Hufflepuff Seeker in his second year.
Jon's flying class grades were among the lowest in the class, and it was probably the worst of all his courses.
The only consolation was probably that Astoria's performance in flying class was similar to his, and she was also a "dum-dum" after riding the broomstick.
Dum-Dums are Dumb-Dumbs but that doesn't stop Jon from complaining about the rules of Quidditch.
The other players worked hard and scored 10 points, but the Seeker caught the Snitch and got 150 points, and the game ended... How can this be played? The other players fought hard for a long time, but the opponent's Seeker cheated and the game ended and turned the tables; although it is normal for players in different positions on the court to be unequal, it is too tragic to have such a big gap.
More importantly, aren't 10 points and 150 points multiples of 10? Even if Quidditch is played for 100 years, there won't be single-digit scores, right? So why add an extra 0 instead of just 1 or 15 points? People with obsessive-compulsive disorder can't afford it.
But it's quite normal. The position of Seeker is tailor-made for the Savior.
You don't need to fight with other players in close combat, so you don't need a strong body, a thin body can also be competent; one person is the soul of a team, the father of a team, the whole team will revolve around you, if your broom or bludger has problems, the two batsmen will just ignore others and serve as your bodyguards; by the way, personal heroism is off the charts, one god can easily lead six pits, even if all teammates are dum-dums, you can easily help the team win with a cheat...
…
As for the funniest class at Hogwarts, it is undoubtedly Professor Gilderoy Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Technically, Defense Against the Dark Arts was a major course that had to be attended three times a week... but Professor Lockhart made those three classes a complete joke.
It was probably during his first class with the second-year students that Lockhart suffered a loss from the Cornish elves... By the time the first-year students had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class on Wednesday morning, there was no longer any practical content.
Lockhart simply took out a stack of test papers in front of the stunned eyes of the first-year students:
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
2. What was Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What do you think is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
4. What type of woman does Gilderoy Lockhart like best?
And so on, three pages in total...
The last question is:
54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday? What would be his ideal birthday present?
While writing the test paper, Jon expressed deep sympathy for the senior students of Hogwarts who needed to take OWLs and NEWTs this year. Probably, the failure rate of their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes would be terribly high.
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected all the test papers and began to mark them one by one in front of everyone.
"Beautifully written, Mr. Hart! You actually remembered that my favorite color is lilac." Lockhart said excitedly: "This paper can get 100 points... Hufflepuff plus five points!"
"Is this possible?" Zacharias, who was beside Jon, looked at him with some doubt about his life.
"Are you also a loyal fan of Professor Lockhart?" asked a Hufflepuff girl whose name Jon couldn't even remember, with a crazy look on her face.
"Uh... not really.. i ..I mean sort of..." Jon shrugged.
It wouldn't take much time to skim through Lockhart's "writings" and memorize all the narcissistic personal information he expressed in them.
Moreover, Lockhart was not useless, Jon already had a plan in mind.
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The Hogwarts library is said to be one of the largest libraries in Europe.
With tens of thousands of books, hundreds of bookshelves, and countless narrow aisles, the scale of the museum is somewhat daunting.
On Saturday morning, Jon Hart appeared in the library... In his free time in the mornings and at noon these days, he would try his best to come to the library and search for the books he needed.
Unlike the packed library in the university in the previous life, there were not many students in this huge library, only about twenty-thirty people, and they were all familiar faces.
After all, the learning atmosphere at Hogwarts is really not that great.
As soon as Jon entered the library, he saw Justin Finch-Fletchley, a second-year Hufflepuff student. He was pointing at himself and talking to a girl with brown curly hair. Behind the girl was a red-haired boy who looked like a follower.
The girl with brown curly hair listened to Justin's words and then walked towards Jon.
"Ahem... hello..." She softened her voice: "Are you Jon, Jon Hart?"
"Um... yes..." Jon nodded and pretended to be surprised: "Excuse me, who are you?"
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...
"I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger, and Wendell is my father." The girl organized her words and said, "I think you should have heard of my name..."
"Oh, you are Dr. Granger's daughter?" Jon interrupted Hermione with an expression of sudden realization.
"Right..." Hermione nodded.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Jon shook Hermione's hand enthusiastically. "It's such a pity that I didn't see you in Diagon Alley..."
"I'm sorry, too." Hermione forced a smile and asked, "How have you been at school this week? Mainly because I don't know where the Hufflepuff common room is, and I haven't been able to find you since the sorting ceremony. Yesterday, Justin said that you would come to the library every morning, so I waited for you here on purpose..."
"It's okay!" Jon shook his head, and then said excitedly: "Hogwarts is so amazing, I swear I have lived for more than ten years and have never seen such amazing magic..."
He kept on sighing for several minutes, and Hermione echoed him while giving him some reminders about Hogwarts.
Until the red-haired boy coughed behind her and whispered a reminder: "Hermione, hurry up, Harry's Quidditch training is about to start."
"Sorry, I have something to do and I have to go!" Hermione smiled apologetically at Jon: "If you have any problems in Hogwarts, you can come to me..."
"Uh-huh!"
Hermione and the red-haired boy hurried away.
When he left, the red-haired boy looked at Jon with a strange look:
"who is he?"
"Um... the son of a friend of my father... during the summer vacation, my father asked me to take care of him after I came to school."
"Oh, really? I don't think he needs much care!"
After they left, Jon breathed a sigh of relief; with his father's relationship, it was inevitable that he would meet Hermione Granger. Fortunately, Hermione had no intention of introducing him to her two friends.
…
"Jon, you actually know Gryffindor's know-it-all!" Justin Finch-Fletchley walked over quickly and asked.
"Hello, Justin..." Jon greeted him and said vaguely, "I guess we know each other!"
"Ms. Hermione Granger is so amazing..." Justin didn't dwell on this issue too much, but sighed: "Why is it that even though we were both born as Muggles, I feel like I can never catch up with her in academic performance in my lifetime?"
The two of them walked around the library, chatting quietly.
"The first Quidditch match is about to start. We're playing against Ravenclaw... Ravenclaw was the Quidditch Cup champion last year, but their previous seeker, Lena Headey, graduated. They found a new seeker, a third-year student... I don't think she's a match for Cedric..."
Jon led the way in front, and before they knew it, they had brought Justin to the restricted books section of the library.
Listening to the familiar footsteps of cloth slippers getting closer and closer behind him, Jon suddenly raised his voice and asked, "By the way, why do so many students dislike our administrator Argus Filch?"
The sound of the cloth slippers behind me suddenly stopped.
"Filch?" Justin shrugged. "It's mainly because the Gryffindor Weasley brothers and their people have been spreading rumors about how bad he is. To be honest, I haven't had much contact with him..."
"I think Mr. Filch is a nice guy!" Jon said with a smile. "He's quite responsible... He doesn't let us run around the school at night. After all, we might get into trouble in the dark and can't ask for help. He also doesn't let us go to places like the Forbidden Forest. Didn't Professor Flitwick say at the opening banquet that there are very dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest?"
"That's true!" Justin nodded thoughtfully.
"And I heard from the Fat Friar that the former administrator, Apollyon Pringle, would punish students with flogging. When Mr. Filch became the administrator, he abolished flogging and replaced it with confinement... To be honest, I think he still cares about us deep down..."
It was Dumbledore's idea to abolish flogging, but the real Filch was in favor of flogging... But what does this have to do with Jon Hart? He was just a first-year who had heard a few rumors and knew basically nothing about Hogwarts.
"Maybe..."
The sound of cloth slippers behind him was heard again, and then the librarian, Mrs. Irma Pince, came over with a feather duster in her hand.
"Oh, children... this is the restricted book area. I don't think this is the place for you to come!" Madam Pince thought for a moment, put down the feather duster in her hand, and spoke as kindly as possible.
"I'm sorry, ma'am..." Justin obviously knew how scary an angry Madam Pince was, and fled in a panic.
Jon, on the other hand, lagged behind slowly, looking at the completely different expression on the face of the librarian Irma Pince, he knew that his plan was basically half successful.
Librarian Irma Pince and Hogwarts Castle manager Argus Filch are a couple who love each other... This is a deep secret hidden in Hogwarts, but not for him.
"Anything else, Mr. Hart?" Madam Pince asked with a smile.
"Yes... Ma'am..." Jon mustered up the courage and said, "In fact, it was Professor Lockhart who asked me to come to the restricted section to find some books!"
"Professor Lockhart?" Madam Pince blinked, then showed an expression of admiration.
It was only the first week, and Professor Gilderoy Lockhart had not yet revealed his true colors at Hogwarts; so his title of "Friend of Middle-aged Women" still existed. Irma Pince was naturally no exception and was also a loyal admirer of Lockhart.
"Have you his permission to sign, Mr. Hart?" asked Madam Pince.
"Not yet... After all, Professor Lockhart hasn't decided which books are needed. He just gave me a general direction..." Jon said calmly, "So, Madam Pince, can I look for it in the restricted section? I swear I will only look at the title and will not rashly open the contents of the book! When I find it, I will immediately take the list to Professor Lockhart for his signature."
If it was any other student, Madam Pince would have told him to get out the first time she heard there was no permission signature.
But by coincidence, Jon Hart was a student she liked very much.
"Oh, I heard from Miss Lovegood that you are Professor Lockhart's favorite student in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I think you are not lying!" Madam Pince nodded and smiled. "I allow you to search here, but don't open the books in the restricted area. Many things in here are very dangerous for you first-year students."
"Yes, ma'am!"
…
Around noon, around eleven o'clock, Jon hurried to Professor Gilderoy Lockhart's office on the fourth floor with a note in his hand.
Luckily for him, Lockhart was in the office at the moment.
There were countless framed photos of Lockhart on the walls of the office, lit brightly by many candles; some of them even had his signature on them; there was also a pile of photos on the table...
"Hello, Mr. Hart, what's the matter?" Professor Lockhart looked at him with a smile on his face.
Apparently, he remembered this student who had done very well in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Yes, professor; in fact, I finished reading several of your books this week and encountered some problems. For example, I didn't quite understand the chronic ghoul venom you mentioned in "Running with Ghouls"; and the method you used to resist the mental control of the dominatrix in "Holidays with Hags"; and the spell you used to finally destroy the werewolf in "Wandering with Werewolves"... "Jon asked calmly.
Lockhart froze there, looking a little speechless. Some of Jon's questions seemed a little beyond his scope.
"Of course, I'm not here to ask you for advice!" Jon said hurriedly as his eyes rolled around, "I think you can easily answer these simple questions, but you didn't write them down in the book, so you must want us to explore these questions ourselves..."
"Really?" Lockhart blinked. "No, I mean you are right, Mr. Hart... I really want you to explore the answers to these questions by yourselves. You are indeed my best student!"
"So I want to borrow a few books from the library. I hope to learn some background knowledge from them." Jon held up a piece of paper in his hand: "But the problem is that these books are in the restricted area of the library, so I need a teacher to sign the paper."
Lockhart nodded. "Of course. I can't stop a seeker from exploring the truth."
He took the note from Jon's hand without hesitation, and then signed his name in big, cursive letters in a flamboyant manner.
At the same time, he didn't even look at the content on the note.
"Thank you, Professor!" Jon quickly took the note back.
"You're welcome, Jon..." Lockhart waved his hand generously: "Study hard, you may be able to achieve something close to mine in the future!"
"My pleasure, Professor!"
…
After getting the signing permission, Jon didn't even bother to go for lunch and ran to the library immediately.
Madam Pince was just about to leave.
"Why, what's the matter?" She looked at Jon in surprise.
"Yes ma'am…I have found the book Professor Lockhart needs and have his signed permission!"
As he spoke, Jon handed over the note.
"Yes... It's Gilderoy's signature. I saw it in Witch Weekly..." Madam Pince blushed and carefully put the note into her chest pocket.
"Come with me, Mr. Hart...I'll take you to find these books now!"