Considerations regarding Professor Snape’s whereabouts were placed at the very top of Sean’s priority list.
Although Professor Snape had not explicitly told him that he was no longer allowed to come to the dungeons to brew potions, he still decided to avoid the professor.
There was actually quite a bit of room to maneuver here.
After all, Professor Snape could be called a very busy man at Hogwarts.
First, as a professor, he had to grade student assignments, keep track of the academic progress of at least twelve classes, and prepare lessons.
Second, as a Head of House, he was responsible for mediating conflicts between students, catching students involved in early romances, and dealing with student issues.
Finally, there were the special tasks assigned to him by Headmaster Dumbledore.
Looking at it this way, Professor Snape’s irritability was completely traceable.
Not only was he caught in a non-stop cycle of classes, but he also had to deal with the affairs of unlucky students every day.
Sean could roughly guess what Professor Snape often had to face—
"Merlin! You have to go see, Professor Snape, those Gryffindors are looking for trouble again!"
His workload was completely excessive, and he didn't even have a teaching assistant.
If Sean remembered correctly, Professor Snape’s office was even at the other end of the underground...
There was plenty of room to maneuver.
Thinking this way, the fireplace in the Great Hall seemed even warmer.
On the stone wall, the fireplace flickered with light until two shadows swayed vaguely past.
"Oh, I must say, I’ve never felt Charms essays were so easy to write."
A faint smile played on Justin’s lips. In his left hand, he carried a magic lantern, and with his right, he tucked a five-inch-long Charms essay and a light blue notebook into his bag.
"Well, Justin, I don't know who was complaining two days ago that magic essays were harder than horseback riding."
Hermione lifted her chin, squinting slightly, and looked at Justin with an "you're not normal" attitude, before hugging a large stack of books and walking into the Great Hall.
They had clearly just returned from the library, still carrying the faint scent of ink on them.
Completing an excellent class assignment was difficult, such as the Charms homework.
To summarize
This is how you wave your wand, this is how you recite the incantation.
Alright, now write me a five-inch essay on the Levitation Charm.
The expressions of the young wizards were probably: "Huh? Me?"
Don't look at it as just written work; to complete it, there were too many parts that required the young wizards to explore and think for themselves.
Therefore, it was almost impossible to write the assignment without soaking in the library, and learning to consult appropriate materials was an important first lesson.
Thus, Hermione and Justin often spent their time in the library.
Compared to Hermione, who had finished memorizing all the first-year textbooks and could quickly find the materials she needed, Justin, who was not as familiar with the textbooks, had a very slow pace. Coupled with Professor Binns’s confusing essays, the young wizards—at least those who wanted to complete their homework properly—were in great pain.
But today, Justin had not only finished his one-foot-long History of Magic essay, but even finished the Levitation Charm essay within three hours.
Because it was an extra assignment from Professor Flitwick, even Hermione hadn't been that fast.
"You wrote a decent Charms essay, yet during practice this afternoon, your Levitation Charm didn't improve even a little bit..."
Hermione tilted her face and glanced at Justin.
"I guess you borrowed someone else's assignment. That person is Sean."
"Oh well, you guessed half right. It was Sean who told me the method."
Justin wasn't embarrassed at all by being guessed; instead, he smiled sincerely and said,
"Although I think Sean would certainly agree to me telling you this method, I still have to get his consent first... Look, he's right there."
Hermione said "Oh," not feeling that a young wizard's method could be anything precious, even if that person was Sean.
However, she still subconsciously searched for the figure of a certain young wizard.
The Great Hall was full of wizards in the same school uniforms walking back and forth, and Hermione was a little suspicious that Justin had seen wrong.
Just then, Justin suddenly sat down
"Sean."
Justin greeted him enthusiastically.
"Mm."
Even while engaged in a fierce battle with a roast chicken, Sean managed to find time to respond.
"Would you mind..."
Justin whispered.
"No."
Before he could finish his sentence, a voice came from inside the roast chicken.
"Oh, good."
Justin’s smile grew brighter. He passed the parchment to Hermione.
"You have to see this, Hermione."
"Alright, but I must say, I don't think..."
Hermione tucked her hair back and took the parchment from Justin.
Ten minutes later.
Sean sipped his pumpkin juice; the sweet taste always put him in a good mood.
"I must say, this is truly a genius structure. Oh... if only I had seen it sooner..."
Just then, Hermione let out a distressed sigh. Sean’s hand shook, and the pumpkin juice rippled.
He looked over and found that Hermione’s face was gradually turning red, and the tips of her ears were flushed a pale pink.
"Sean, ah, I mean..."
Hermione stammered. She was not at all used to having her compliments heard to her face.
Fortunately, Sean was always focused on his own business and hadn't heard anything, and Justin was always quick to react
"I mean—no, Hermione said that the essay method is amazing! And your notes on Charms—if only I could apply the theory to practice..."
He was always timely, not only answering the previous question but also smoothly leading the topic to Charms.
"Mm, practice is what's important."
Sean nodded.
He was still thinking about whether the dungeons would welcome him today.
The result was obvious.
The dungeons were dangerous today.
Professor Snape entering the dungeons must have been to brew potions, and brewing potions never took a short amount of time.
Therefore, Sean decided to allocate his evening time to the other six subjects, among which the most practical was naturally Charms.
Thus, finding a place to practice spells became his goal for the night.
"We're going to practice spells, Sean. Want to come along?"
Justin suddenly spoke up. When he said this, his light gray eyes were noticeably brighter.
Sean was slightly stunned.
A few minutes later,
Three figures slowly walked through the corridor and up the spiral staircase.
There were a total of one hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts.
Some were wide and large;
Some were narrow and small, and wobbly;
Some led to different places on Fridays;
Some went halfway up, and a step would suddenly disappear, so you had to remember where to jump.
In addition, there were many doors here that wouldn't open for you unless you asked them politely or poked the right spot;
There were also some doors that weren't real doors at all, just solid walls that looked like doors.
It was not easy to remember what was where, because everything seemed to be constantly moving.
The people in the portraits also visited each other constantly, and Justin swore that even the suits of armor walked.
In such a changing castle, a hidden room didn't seem so strange.
(End of chapter)