Once the new students grew accustomed to the castle's ever-shifting staircases, Wade's life at Hogwarts also settled into a routine.
The first-year students' timetable was quite relaxed. Some days they had as few as one class, and never more than three, leaving the rest of their time free. Seeing this schedule, Wade sometimes wondered why students who constantly complained about professors giving too much homework still couldn't manage to finish a mere few inches of an essay on time.
In his previous life, when Wade was less than ten years old, his essays were already required to be at least three hundred characters long, and that was in Chinese, which was known for its "language compression." If he were to convert it to English, he could easily expand it to a thousand words. After the systematic training he received through high school, university, and postgraduate studies, writing ten thousand words in two days was not beyond him.
It was only after studying with Michael, Hermione, and others for a period that Wade understood the reason.
Among the first-year students, besides Wade, Hermione was the most effortless when it came to completing essays. At the very least, she didn't make basic grammatical errors, rarely encountered words she couldn't spell, and could quickly grasp the key points from texts and articulate them clearly and logically.
These points were difficult for the other three to achieve, even Ravenclaw's Michael.
This was because they all came from Wizarding families.
The lives of Wizards and ordinary people were almost completely separated—even if one spouse was Muggle-born. Most Wizarding families lived in seclusion, not only never actively contacting Muggles but also placing a "Muggle-Repelling Charm" near their homes to prevent Muggles from accidentally intruding into their lives. Consequently, Wizards didn't understand Muggle clothing or technological advancements, nor would they send their underage children to Muggle schools. In their eyes, this was no different from humans sending their children to be taught by monkeys living in trees.
There was only one magic school in Britain, Hogwarts; there were no "magic primary schools" or "magic universities." In the Wizarding World, children under eleven primarily received homeschooling. If parents had time, they would teach their children reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. However, with irresponsible parents, a child might not even know how to spell "Quill."
Michael and the others generally began their parents' education around five or six years old, so they had no major issues with reading and writing. However, being able to read and write was different from Academic Ability. The home education of Wizards lacked many things compared to the systematic education of Muggle schools. For instance, when Wizarding parents taught their children to read, they didn't specifically cultivate skills in logical reasoning or inductive summarization. Wade suspected many Wizards might not even have a concept of these, as they generally disdained Muggle theories.
Moreover, young Wizards, including Hermione, generally lacked the ability to quickly extract and comprehend key information from texts. For example, young Wizards could at most understand: "If object A and B have the same temperature, and B and C have the same temperature, then A and C also have the same temperature." But their reference books stated: "If two thermodynamic systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third thermodynamic system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other. That is: if it can be affirmed that the physical properties of two systems will not change when heat can be exchanged, then even if the two systems are not allowed to exchange heat, it can be affirmed that they are in equilibrium with each other."
Young Wizards: ...?
A string of letters smoothly slid through their minds, leaving no trace.
Hermione could rely on her powerful memory to memorize all the content by rote, then slowly understand it by cross-referencing different materials. But most young Wizards could only jot down a bunch of incomprehensible notes, scratch their heads, and muddle through an assignment, hoping the professor would be lenient and give them an A (Pass).
Furthermore, eleven-year-old children were sent away from their parents to boarding school, and the professors' discipline was not strict. Even Professor McGonagall or Snape, known for their strictness, wouldn't care if a young Wizard without class was sleeping in the dormitory or playing games in the common room. This relaxed environment was a great test of self-control for minors. Laziness and play were human nature, but studying was not; studying was only interesting to a very small number of people.
Like Hermione.
Like Wade.
In just half a month, the two stood out among the first-year students. The difference was that Hermione was strict with herself and others, and firmly refused any cheating on homework or violating school rules. Wade, however, never minded others copying his homework. When he was immersed in studying and repeatedly practicing spells in the practice room, he never forced others to work as hard as he did.
Wade actually understood the inertia of teenagers when it came to studying; he had been like that in his previous life. In this life, he worked harder than anyone else, not because he loved studying, but because he loved magic. To him, magic wasn't an innate, self-evident ability, so he cherished this opportunity more than anyone else in the school.
After another practice session that lasted almost until Curfew, Wade hurried back to the Ravenclaw Tower. At this hour, the corridors outside were completely silent, as if everyone was asleep. But once he entered the common room, it felt like it was still too early.
Hogwarts had a Curfew, but no lights-out time. If students wished, they could stay in the brightly lit common room all night. At this moment, there were many students of various years in the Ravenclaw common room—there were couples in love sweet-talking on a sofa in the corner, bored young Wizards playing Wizard's Chess at a round tea table, and older students frantically rushing to finish homework with their Quills flying across the page.
Although there were many people, it wasn't noisy. The Ravenclaws consciously kept their voices low when conversing.
Seven or eight people were gathered on the sofa by the fireplace, and girls' giggles occasionally drifted over. Wade glanced over, then indifferently found a secluded corner to sit in, reading a book and taking notes.
Michael, seeing this from among the crowd, smiled and said a few words to the girl beside him, then walked over and sat down next to Wade.
"Studying so late again?" Michael leaned against the table and said, "Wade, we've been here for less than a month, and you're almost done with all the first-year material. What are you going to do with the rest of your time? I'm not saying you're overdoing it, but sometimes you should relax. Wade, buddy, do you know how many girls want to get to know you?"
He raised an eyebrow towards the fireplace, causing another round of giggles among the girls.
Wade stopped his Quill and looked at Michael with his gray eyes, asking, "I don't know. But Michael—do you know how long we can stay at Hogwarts?"
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