Even in the wizarding world, people always had something to gossip about. But no matter how juicy the topic, it would still be worn down by ordinary life, like grit washed away by water.
Quirrell's death had caused an uproar at first, but it didn't take long for students to shove it to the back of their minds as classes and homework piled up. Now and then someone might remember it, sigh once, and then get on with their day.
Quirrell had no family, and no one mourned him. In the end, he would become nothing more than a line in a Ministry of Magic file, left to gather dust.
By comparison, the disappearance of those pureblood wizards mattered far more, and drew far more attention.
At least for some Hogwarts students, it was outright terrible news.
A lot of the missing were their relatives—some of them even their parents.
And those unlucky students were concentrated in Slytherin.
No surprise there. Slytherin had the most Death Eater families.
It drained the color from Hogwarts's usual laughter. A heavy, oppressive mood hung over the school.
In that gloom, Easter arrived. Many students hauled their trunks home for the holiday, but it wasn't exactly going to be a pleasant break.
For the ones returning to an empty house, it was miserable.
And for everyone else, there was the other disaster: an absurd amount of Easter holiday homework.
"So what's the point of Easter break?" Ernie slumped in the library, looking like his soul had already left his body. "Is it just so the professors can assign even more work?"
The homework load was genuinely horrifying. To avoid getting detention after the holiday, Ernie didn't go home at all. He stayed and worked.
"What can you do?" Justin grumbled. "Final exams are only two weeks after Easter. And speaking of exams, what am I supposed to do? My Transfiguration still isn't up to standard."
"Shh," Susan whispered. "Keep it down. Madam Pince is looking over here. If you don't want to get thrown out, stop talking."
"Yeah," Hannah added in a small voice. "If we get kicked out now, we'll never catch up. I wanted to save two days to actually have fun."
"But if we're talking about homework…" Ernie muttered resentfully, glancing toward Leonard. He kept writing while staring at his parchment, but his brain stalled out halfway through the sentence. "How is Leonard so… so…"
"So infuriating," Justin supplied.
"Yeah. Infuriating," Ernie agreed with a nod.
Once Leonard came up, Susan and Hannah couldn't help looking over too. Leonard sat right beside them, calmly reading, while the rest of them were scribbling like their lives depended on it. The contrast made him look impossibly relaxed.
"Hey," Leonard said, lifting his head when he heard his name. "I only came back because you begged me to help you find references for your assignments. Don't be ungrateful."
"Sure, sure," Ernie said, still sulking. "But why don't you have any homework?"
"Probably because most professors think I'm doing fine and there's no point in assigning it," Leonard said, turning a page in the thick book in his hands.
Ever since he'd discovered the joy of getting on Professor Sprout's good side and earning a homework exemption, Leonard had started deliberately showing his progress to professors in other subjects too.
In Leonard's view, homework was a complete waste of time. Not having to do it was the real proof of being top of the class.
It had gone fairly smoothly.
After Professor Sprout, the next to exempt him was Professor Flitwick. Flitwick already thought highly of Leonard's ability to cast nonverbal spells without a wand, so after a few well-placed hints, he agreed easily enough.
Then there was Astronomy. Most of the work was labeling the names and positions of the planets in the solar system, usually in diagram form. Leonard simply rattled off what he remembered from encyclopedias he'd read in his previous life, and that was that.
Transfiguration was the hardest to get out of, but after Leonard deliberately demonstrated several transformations that were close to perfect, even Professor McGonagall agreed to his request.
So why was Transfiguration the hardest one, rather than Potions or A History of Magic?
Because the professors for those two subjects had no intention of agreeing at all.
There was no need to mention Snape. Their relationship had never been good.
And the A History of Magic professor, Binns, simply ignored Leonard completely. The moment class ended, the old ghost would drift right through a wall and leave without sparing him a glance.
Leonard had been so annoyed he'd nearly used his soul-targeting magic on him.
So technically, Leonard still had homework—Potions and A History of Magic, the two that demanded the most writing.
But so what? At Leonard's pace, no assignment survived to see the next day. He finished them the same day he got them.
Everything else was for his own projects—or for tasks certain professors asked him to do.
Leonard turned the pages at a leisurely pace, looking as calm as if he were reading a casual novel.
Susan leaned over curiously to peek at the book, but the dense lines of tiny print made her dizzy. She pulled back at once. "Leonard, what are you reading? It looks so hard."
"I've never seen that one before," Justin added, equally curious.
"That's from the Restricted Section," Ernie said casually. "When we first got here, I saw Leonard coming out of the Restricted Section with that book in his hands."
"The Restricted Section?!" the Hufflepuffs exclaimed together.
At once, a sharp, knife-like gaze swept over them. The startled Hufflepuffs immediately ducked their heads and pretended to read, not daring to look up.
Madam Pince's eyes passed over their bowed heads like an executioner's blade. When her gaze reached Leonard, it paused for a moment—then slid away.
The pressure eased, and the Hufflepuffs let out quiet breaths of relief.
If you had to name the most terrifying person in Hogwarts, it would be Madam Pince. She was even scarier than Filch. When she stared at you with that expression, you felt like a mouse being watched by an owl.
They lifted their heads again and looked at Leonard, who hadn't even changed expression. Somehow, he remained perfectly calm under Madam Pince's stare.
"Leonard…" Susan whispered, "how did you get into the Restricted Section?"
"I walked in," Leonard said casually.
Susan: ???
What did he mean, "walked in"? That wasn't what she was asking at all.