"You asked the professor?" Michael exclaimed in surprise, "After attending Professor Snape's class, you still dared to approach a professor?"
Theo chuckled, "Professor Sprout is different; she's particularly kind. Besides, I thought it would be better to seek the professor's permission rather than sneak around practicing. And practicing spells isn't a bad thing either."
"And then? Professor Sprout just provided us with a place?" Vid asked.
"Right," Theo nodded, "An unused empty classroom. Professor Sprout said it would definitely meet our needs."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go quickly! Let's go take a look together!" Michael said cheerfully — he certainly didn't want to stay in the stifling library any longer.
Vid was just about to leave but suddenly turned back to take another look.
In the vast library, Hermione was the only one buried in her books, looking quite solitary.
Vid remembered that at this time, Hermione seemed to not have a single friend.
"Wait a moment." He said to the others, "I'll go fetch someone else."
The book on the table was tapped lightly twice, and Hermione looked up to see Vid smiling at her, saying, "Hermione, we're planning to practice spells together. Would you like to join us?"
................
"Hogwarts was the first magic school to be established, long ago, almost all the young wizards in Europe studied at Hogwarts. But later, other magic schools were gradually established, and many wizards chose to move to the United States to live, where their children attended Ilvermorny School."
Climbing the stairs, Theo panted, "So...Hogwarts used to accommodate a thousand or two thousand students, and hundreds of professors. But now there are only two or three hundred people, so many classrooms are left unused. For the safety of the students, the school has hidden most of the abandoned empty classrooms."
"The classroom Professor Sprout told us about is an unused Spell Classroom, and it should be quite large," Leian added, "It's behind Miss Claudia's umbrella painting on the third floor."
They searched along the corridor for a while and finally found the painting on the side near the West Tower.
—— On a flower-strewn prairie, the wind gently blew. A blonde girl was holding an umbrella with a white background and pink flowers, looking longingly into the distance, sideways towards them.
Leian knocked on the left side of the painting three times with her magic wand and said the password: "Sunlight, golden daisy."
The girl lifted her skirt and stepped aside, the painting opened, and they each walked through. Once the painting closed, the blonde girl turned her umbrella in a different direction, and it began to rain lightly in the painting.
This classroom had been abandoned for who knows how long; a thick layer of dust covered the floor, some desks and chairs were scattered chaotically, and a few old books and discarded parchments lay strewn on the ground. A row of wooden shelves against the wall was empty and even damaged in spots. In the corner, targets used for practicing spells were piled up, most of them also broken.
"Alright, it looks like we'll have to clean up before we start practicing," Hermione rolled up her sleeves, "Who will fetch a basin of water?"
"I will!" Theo volunteered eagerly, "I'll first go find some cleaning tools."
"Why not ask the school's house-elves to tidy it up?" Michael lazily suggested, "You know that Hogwarts keeps a group of house-elves, right?"
Leian had already stooped to pick up a fallen chair.
"Hold on a moment, everyone." Vid stopped Theo who was about to leave and asked the others, "We're here to practice spells—why not start by tidying up this classroom?"
"What? No way?" Michael looked at him in disbelief.
"Scourgify, Reparo, let's start with these two spells." Vid looked at Leian and said, "Moving the desks and chairs can only be done with Levioso."
"Alright! It's a big project! But it sounds fun," Theo said with a smile.
Leian thought for a moment, then let the chair he had just picked up fall over again. He waved his magic wand, "Scourgify!"
A table became slightly cleaner, but there was still obvious grime in its crevices.
Vid blinked.
"Leian, try it again," Vid said.
So Leian cast the cleaning spell once more, but the effect wasn't very obvious.
This time, Vid was sure he saw it clearly—when Leian waved his wand, he vaguely saw another arc overlapping with the first one. The two were similar yet different, giving him a clear understanding of why Leian's spell wasn't working as it should.
It was like playing a game where mods calculated the best route and attack angle for him.
"Leian, when casting, do it this way: raise the wand slightly, and finish decisively," Vid demonstrated, "Also, Scourgify—the 'gi' pronunciation should be lighter. Try again, and see."
Leian paused—perhaps Hufflepuff naturally trusted the brains of Ravenclaw more; he didn't voice any objections and followed Vid's revised motion: "Scourgify!"
The table immediately began to sparkle as if even flies couldn't stand on it, and even the floor beneath it became clean.
Leian stared wide-eyed at his magic wand, then at Vid, and muttered, "How did you do that?"
The others had almost the same reaction, gathering around to look at the table. Theo even bent down to touch it, exclaiming in awe, "Leian! I never knew! You're actually a spell genius!"
"No—not because of me—" Leian said, somewhat perplexed. He waved his wand again, but due to his unsettled emotions, the effect wasn't as good as last time.
Vid said nothing, as when he cast the spell himself, he didn't see any additional arcs—just as his eyes could only see the names above others' heads but couldn't see his own name.
But the experience of guiding Leian made him realize what was correct, so his own spellcasting was flawless and the cleaning area was much larger.
Vid considered and then had the others use the Scouring Charm too; as expected, he once again saw the thin, golden arc. Even Hermione's spell wasn't perfect, but it was closer to the standard than the others'.
He guided each of them, getting their spells closer to perfect. During this process, his understanding deepened, to the point where with a casual flick of the wand, he could cast a perfect cleaning spell without even needing to speak.
If the golden hand had a name, Vid thought perhaps he now had a "Good Teacher System"—with one glance at a student's head, he knew which name to call out; even with a group casting spells simultaneously, he could tell who was serious and who was slacking; in one-on-one guidance, he could make slight adjustments, allowing students to master a spell in the shortest time possible.
Unfortunately, the golden hand was a taciturn golden hand, and Vid didn't know if it had other undiscovered features waiting to be developed; he could only explore slowly.