Vid unconsciously leaned back, causing the chair legs to lift off the ground.
Antoine's enthusiasm for publishing was like a raging storm, but Vid always felt he exaggerated, describing the significance of the book too optimistically.
When Vid was in college, he had audited some educational theory courses to help a friend, and was well aware that compared to the closed Magic World, the Muggle Society's educational methods had long been in full bloom, yet the educators who proposed various methods and theories often had their names as just prefixes of some educational theory.
Just like the Feynman Learning Technique, even though its knowledge retention rate can exceed ninety percent, because it's time-consuming and cumbersome, people, even knowing about it, are too lazy to learn it.
However, he didn't voice his thoughts, only said, "Thank you, Antoine... If you're publishing, is there anything you need me to do?"
Antoine's eyes lit up, but he clicked his tongue and said, "You can't be too proactive on this, Vid, otherwise, a bunch of old folks will think you're too brash."
"I will state in the preface of the book that this is a spontaneous action organized by the students you helped—of course, the final product still needs your review and polish."
As he spoke, he pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and jotted down a few notes.
Sitting on the desk, through Antoine's fingers, Vid could see a flipped page with notes saying: [Third Magic Spell Study Group Teaching Records... Can conclude... Problems in learning are...]
The slightly chaotic handwriting was evidently written by Antoine during his spare moments.
"Is that okay?" Vid sighed, "You're a professor at Salem School, helping Hogwarts students publish a book? And not even being credited?"
Antoine waved his hand and said, "I'm not Salem's Professor Antoine now, I'm Student A of the Magic Spell Association..."
He blinked and smiled, "Thanks to the Friendship Book, I don't need to meet in person or reveal my real name, I can easily reach agreements with those kids."
Vid: "...But how did you get their contact information?"
"The Magic Spell Study Group chat! You don't have it? We're chatting enthusiastically every day!"
Antoine was even more surprised than Vid, seeing Vid's expression slightly freeze, he burst out laughing:
"Hahahahaha... They probably didn't give you a Friendship Book for fear of disturbing you? After all, you already teach for free twice a week; it would indeed be inappropriate to pursue further inquiries during your rest time."
Vid felt downcast for a moment and then laughed as well.
Indeed, even if he joined such chat groups, he would find them time-consuming, mostly leaving them idle like other groups, occasionally glancing through but rarely participating.
"Anyway, leave this matter to me, once the draft is finished, I'll show it to you."
Antoine said excitedly, then added, "By the way, during the second event of the competition, don't eliminate Hope too!"
"After all, Salem only has this one contestant left. If she gets eliminated early, I fear Ms. Owens will take everyone from Salem on a plane back home overnight, then I couldn't stay publicly."
"The second event is troublesome; I wasn't intending to screen out opponents any further," Vid said, "But what if she can't pass the competition on her own?"
"Then let it be," Antoine said briskly, "You can't be her babysitter."
"That's good."
Vid's gaze shifted outside the window, the last rays of sunset stretched the shadows on the lawn.
From above, it looked as if several black Giants had appeared in the school.
"Speaking of which—" After a moment of silence, Vid softly asked, "What does Mr. Grindelwald think of this competition?"
"Hmm?" Antoine was pondering over his notes in the small notebook, and upon hearing Vid, he paused, snapped back to reality, and revealed a mysterious smile.
"He said you resemble a young Thunderbird—"
Antoine elongated his speech, smiling as Vid turned his gaze over, "On your first flap, you stirred a storm."
Vid felt a slight stir in his heart, pursed his lips, and didn't speak immediately.
Antoine leaned in and patted his shoulder.
"Mr. Grindelwald also told me to convey: follow your path and don't look back at the shadows behind."
As Vid remained silent, Antoine laughed again, "Of course... If you do care, you know you can contact him directly, right?"
After speaking, not waiting for Vid's response, he jumped off the desk and straightened Vid's chair.
"Alright, hurry back to the house, your classmates are surely waiting to celebrate your return!" Antoine said, "I need to ask dear Angelina if she'd like to be the second author, we've been chatting quite well lately."
...
Vid walked alone up the spiral staircase; as he passed by, the portraits on either side began to look at him, murmuring to each other, some even waving and smiling.
It seemed that the details of the first competition had already spread among the portraits. Griffiths chased after him for a while, endlessly asking about his competition experience, boasting about his dragon-hunting feats in his youth.
"Back in Romania, I froze a Black Dragon, but then its mate came, and that creature burned my favorite robe!"
"Have I ever told you about the time I caught a group of Ukrainian Ironbellies? That day I was supposed to pick some Dittany, but got surrounded by five Fire Dragons..."
Suddenly, a particularly noisy voice arose from another portrait, "I heard someone talking about dragon hunting?"
Griffiths immediately halted, "Oh... Darn!"
A short, plump Knight in armor, riding a fat little steed, clattered into the portrait where Griffiths was standing.
The original owner of the portrait was pushed to a corner, so angry that he was puffing and glaring, yet no one paid him any attention.
The Knight shouted loudly, "Hey! What's the big deal facing those tame domestic dragons? I once rode with this old partner, risking my life to defeat a Wyvern of Wye!"
"That beast wanted to eat us all, but Sir Cadogan heroically used a broken Magic Wand, piercing its tongue! Do you know how I then set it ablaze? It was an unparalleled feat..."
Taking advantage of Sir Cadogan distracting Griffiths, Vid quickened his steps, slipping through the rotating staircase into the Ravenclaw Common Room.
The door knocker gently asked, "Born of battle, adorned with joy; find me, you're mad, lose me, you're lost—who am I?"
Vid smiled and answered, "Victory."
"Correct."
With that, the door opened.
Instantly, brilliant blue light poured out, dazzling fireworks burst from the tip of Magic Wands, a long table laden with sumptuous foods, and countless smiling faces greeted Vid, the steam rising, blurring his vision.
"Raise your glasses—"
Penelope stood on a bench, raising her glass high, her face flushed with excitement, "To celebrate today's victory—to Vid Gray!"