Quirelmort didn't bother explaining the lack of stuttering despite my feigned shock but grilled me harshly on the knowledge I took from the book chosen for me.
"Excellent! Your talent is clear to see. I believe you are ready for more.... advanced topics." he said at the end once seemingly satisfied with my performance.
"What kind of advanced topics?" I asked with a suspicion.
"Curses and hexes of course. While I cannot be sure of your true ability with spell casting given your current circumstances it's quite obvious it cannot be low. " he said casually.
It took serious effort on my part not to react to that negatively. The books made it quite clear that dark magic corrupts the caster both in body and soul. I was pretty sure that the curses and hexes he was mentioning weren't the sort that could be considered pranks and thus harmless overall. Or perhaps they were and he was going to slowly lead me to the dark side with promises of power and glory. Ignoring the instability in his mind and soul from splitting his soul so many times Voldemort was a certified genius and manipulator.-
It would not be terribly surprising if he understood that a child like me wouldn't be comfortable jumping straight into dark magic that caused harm to others and was going to slowly ease me to it.
"Curses and hexes!? That sounds incredibly dangerous sir!" I exclaimed in mock shock and caution while eyeing my spear.
"Calm yourself!" he said harshly. "I'm not asking you to learn the three unforgivable curses. These will be little more than things used for pranks or warnings." he said switching to a reassuring tone.
"I don't know sir. What about the other professors?" I asked with mock concern.
"I will explain it to the others not to worry." he said reassuringly and if I didn't know better I might have believed him.
'There's the manipulative bastard that created the Deatheaters with power and honied words before revealing his true intentions.' I thought but kept my act up.
"I suppose you would know best as the Professor." I said feigning cautious acceptance.
He seemed to accept that easily and left afterwards and I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. I didn't know if he saw through my act or not but it was necessary. If he thought he was successfully tricking me into a darker path he'd pay less attention to me and more to the classmate of mine who once caused his "death" Harry Potter. Ironically it was a trick I learned from dealing with Karen's in my previous life. Those people who tried to make things difficult for some sense of control or just all around self importance. You played along and made them think they were winning and it was amazing how easy it was to get them to leave you alone.-
In this case Voldemort himself probably couldn't even imagine a case where he was the one getting strung along. He was too arrogant to after all. The movies and books had multiple examples of this problem of his showing up. This whole damn year was the biggest of them all. The guy seriously thought Dumbledore didn't know he was here on Quirrell's head? Ridiculous! Or perhaps the time when he freed Harry to force him to duel him as a show of power to the Deatheaters which gave Harry the chance to escape. There were plenty of others as well where his arrogance caught him flat footed.-
After that it was Mcgonagall and then Snape for my quizzes to round out my full list for the week. Mcgonagall was easy to please as I simply recited the book she gave me and added my own thoughts on it that she either confirmed or denied. Snape however was as expected an absolute taskmaster but seemed almost excited when I began asking about the aspects of potions that the book he chose didn't cover. I wasn't deluding myself into thinking he liked me or anything like that but it was pretty clear he at least seemed to appreciate my own passion for the potioneering art.-
How could I be not when potions were a massive mountain of profit waiting to be claimed? The sheer breadth and depth that potions covered means so long as I mastered the art I'd have a potion to sell across the multiverse that was valuable to everyone. Barren wasteland? Nutrition potion. Battlefield? Healing potion. Assassination? Pick a poisonous potion. I would be a fool not to treat potioneering with as much reverence as I could with a system like mine. I didn't earn any points from the man for good performance but he did leave a vial of pain relieving potion when he left.-
It wasn't like pain relieving medications that dulled your sense of pain but one that actually caused the pain to go away temporarily. It did have a side effect of also making your sense of touch a bit duller than normal but given my condition I was perfectly okay with that. Like Madam Pomphrey had said I was almost recovered enough to return to normal life but I would need regular doses of pain relieving potion. My hands still hurt a lot to move but it wasn't so much that it was crippling anymore.-
I could go without the bandages now as my skin had closed up but I had no intention of taking the bandages off. The first reason for this was that I actually found them aesthetically appealing. The second was because my hands were gnarly to look at at the moment. The skin was rough and dark with clear lightning patterned lines across it's surface with angry redness. I wasn't vain or anything but it was easier to keep my hands wrapped up than to have to deal with people constantly focus in on my hands.-
That said I was definitely going to improve the bandages themselves. Perhaps a white silk with gold threading instead. If I get the bandages enchanted as well I might even be able to use them defensively or offensively. I'd have to sneak out to Hogsmeade during one of the weekends to find a clothing store to commission such a set of bandages but it'd be worth it in my opinion. I already knew how to wrap my hands up thanks to watching Madam Pomphrey do it over and over again so I'd only need a bit of practice or you know, magic.