Harry Potter: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me from Studying

Professor Flitwick glanced at it and said, "Oh, a very clever guiding method—while it's a shortcut, it can certainly help you master this spell faster. Wade, this must be your idea."

Wade curved his eyes, revealing a brilliant smile.

The usually solemn Professor Flitwick also smiled. He waved his wand, duplicating the parchment about ten times so that each group could have a copy, while also cautioning, "This is a reference, but you must truly master it. In ten minutes, I'll collect the parchments. I hope by then you've all mastered the Levitation Charm! For those who can already make the feather float—why don't you try making it spin in the air?"

The students in the classroom resumed practicing, and Professor Flitwick walked around, giving instructions.

Wade directed his feather, making it draw a circle one moment and a square the next in the air, then began silently writing poetry. Anthony looked on enviously but didn't aim too high, instead continuing to practice the Levitation Charm over and over.

After class, the Gryffindors rushed off to their History of Magic lesson. The Ravenclaws had no other classes that morning, so Wade habitually went to the library. Michael had planned to go with him but was stopped before he could even stand up.

"Hey, Michael." His roommate, Terry, put an arm around his neck and asked, "You've been disappearing after every class lately, just going to study with Wade, right? I heard Gryffindor's Granger and Longbottom are with you too?"

A circle of young eagles around him watched with shining eyes.

Michael raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "That's right, I wasn't hiding it from you! Why the big fuss?"

"So Longbottom being able to master the Levitation Charm is the result of your study sessions?" Lisa quickly asked. "I thought you were just doing homework together."

"Michael, can you spare some time to teach me too?" Padma asked. "My Mending Charm isn't quite perfected yet."

Padma was a very pretty Indian girl, and Michael was quite smitten with her. However, when it came to spell learning, Michael wouldn't take credit for someone else's work.

"While I'd be happy to teach you the spells I've mastered, Padma, the one who teaches very well is Wade, not me—we're all learning from Wade," Michael said honestly.

"Wade, huh—"

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

In their eyes, Wade Gray was exceptionally aloof, handsome yet rarely smiling, exceptionally talented yet detached from the crowd. Although the same age, he didn't joke around, didn't play games, didn't attend parties, and didn't even discuss Quidditch. He would always disappear right after class, only returning to the tower at curfew. While other students usually chatted and did homework in the common room, Wade rarely appeared there. The young eagles felt they were being unilaterally isolated by Wade.

All in all, he was a very distant person.

This was also why very few people usually approached Wade to speak with him—the young wizards were a little afraid of him.

The library was quiet and deserted. Madam Pince wasn't keeping an eye on the students but was slowly turning the pages of a book. When she saw Wade enter, she merely glanced up before returning to her book.

Two months into the term, Madam Pince was already familiar with all the first-year students who regularly visited the library. She knew exactly which ones could be trusted to stay in the library without supervision and which ones needed constant monitoring, or else they would be noisy, damage books, or even fight.

Wade was one of the students she could trust completely.

Wade, knowing his way around, went to the section for alchemy books—he had recently started setting aside time to study Alchemy.

Alchemy investigated the composition, structure, and magical properties of the four basic elements, as well as material transformation. It was closely related to Potions, Charms, Ancient Runes, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. At Hogwarts, one could only choose to study Alchemy if they achieved "Exceeds Expectations" or higher in these subjects in their Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWL) exams, making it a very difficult discipline. Younger students without the appropriate foundational knowledge would find it hard to master this subject through self-study.

Yet, their lives were full of the shadows of alchemy—the eternally burning candles in the Great Hall, the 142 moving staircases in the castle, the seemingly alive portraits on the walls, the door knocker that posed different questions, and broomsticks, Golden Snitches, the Sorting Hat, Wizard Chess, Remembralls, and so on.

Basic Alchemy, in fact, wasn't that difficult to begin with. It was just that alchemists always liked to use obscure terms, cryptic expressions, and exaggerated, fantastical language, which inadvertently increased the learning difficulty.

Wade's reading comprehension skills had been cultivated and trained for over twenty years in his previous life. He also had a sufficient knowledge base and vocabulary. Therefore, though challenging, he managed to devour alchemy books one by one.

Earlier, he had been reading books published by Nicolas Flamel years ago—An Introduction to Alchemy and Alchemy Explained. More recently, Wade had started reading The Book of the Mysteries of Nature: The Fifth Element.

This book was written by the twelfth-century alchemist Ramon Llull. The so-called Fifth Element was the Philosopher's Stone.

"This book is actually a bit outdated, because Nicolas Flamel succeeded in creating the Philosopher's Stone, and he proved that many theories in this book deviate from the facts."

A voice suddenly came from beside him. Wade looked up in surprise to see the Weasley twins standing there. It was George Weasley who spoke.

"You're a first-year?" Fred simply pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, saying, "It's a bit too early to be studying this."

"But I have to say, you have great taste! Alchemy is the most fascinating subject in magic!—Muffliato." George said, waving his wand to prevent Madam Pince from rushing over.

"But Hogwarts doesn't teach it until sixth year—"

"That's a truly idiotic decision. Why can't they offer Alchemy in first year?"

"Most students wouldn't dare go home during the summer then," Fred said, feigning seriousness. "Because they'd be guaranteed an 'T' (Troll) on their final exams."

"Except for us—"

"We're naturally good at this—"

"So we started self-studying a year ago!" George said. "As seniors, here's some advice for you, little Ravenclaw: you should start with An Introduction to Alchemy! Nicolas Flamel is the greatest living alchemist! His books are more worth studying."

Wade spread his hands: "But I've already finished that book."

"Whoa!" Fred raised an eyebrow. "What about Alchemy Explained?"

"Read that too."

"Then—what about On the Diversity of Species?" George asked.

"Thomas Aquinas's work from the twelfth century?" Wade hesitated. "I saw it, but I didn't read it in detail because his book doesn't seem to involve the application of magic."

George said, "Actually, that's due to the limitations of the environment at the time; he had to entrust the book to Muggle publishers, and content related to magic was written very subtly. Of course, we highly recommend the revised version by Esnel Vargas from the 18th century.He added over two hundred new magical creatures and thousands of magical ingredients, making it more comprehensive and accurate."

The Weasleys had read at least twenty or thirty books on Alchemy, and had deeply researched them, speaking about them like treasured possessions.

Wade felt as though he had found a treasure. He promptly took out parchment and wrote everything down. If he didn't have another class in the afternoon, he wouldn't have let them leave. They chatted so happily that when they parted ways, they didn't even notice—they hadn't asked each other's names.