Snape didn't even look back as he walked out of the classroom. His footsteps were incredibly stylish, and with his black robes billowing behind him, his departing back looked just like a big bat.
Bang!
Accompanied by the classroom door being opened and then heavily slammed shut, the students inside finally let out waves of wails.
"Link! A full 40 centimeters of essay, what do we do?!"
John instantly rushed over and hugged Link's leg, shouting especially loudly, crying with snot and tears everywhere.
This disgusted Link so much that he nearly shook his leg on instinct, but he still didn't manage to fling John off.
The two struggled for quite a while before Link finally picked John up, used "Gemino" to copy the Potions notebook once, handed it to John, and said, "Alright, alright, take this back and look over it yourself. As for the essay, you're solving that yourself. It's for your own good."
Hearing this, John immediately flipped through the notebook twice. His eyes then widened, and with joy he stuffed the notebook into his chest and said, "Hehe, Link, you're the best."
"No need for you to remind me of that," Link rolled his eyes at him. "We're going to have lunch now. You go back too, don't come be a third wheel."
"Of course, you two go ahead."
John waved his hand, smiling brightly as he happily saw Link and Emily out of the classroom.
But when he turned around, he saw the entire class staring at him with either cold or disdainful looks.
Especially the Slytherins.
The ridicule in their eyes was almost completely undisguised.
John laughed awkwardly, not caring at all. Patting the copied notebook inside his robes, he jogged toward the dormitory.
He had seen it clearly just now, this notebook in his hands was something Link had conjured with the Gemino Charm.
This meant that the copied notebook could disappear at any time due to magical power depletion, so he needed to write it down as fast as possible.
As for those people in the classroom, in John's eyes, they were the real idiots.
Snape was actually a very good Potions professor, he just had a mouth.
But there was something he said that was correct.
Although being able to enter the Potions N.E.W.T. class already proved they had some talent, that talent was not enough for them to be arrogant.
John had a very clear understanding of himself. He was well aware that his own talent in the Potions N.E.W.T. class was barely considered average.
Under such circumstances, if he wanted to have an easier time in class and wanted to go further on the path of Potions, the best way was to seek help from the genius study gods, Link and Emily.
And the return for doing so was incredibly rewarding.
John had only skimmed the notebook Link gave him, yet he could already tell, it was practically a martial arts secret manual for Potions.
With it, his learning efficiency would be at least several times faster than the others.
As for losing face?
What's embarrassing about messing around with your own bro?
If he seriously went to ask Link for help, that would be embarrassing.
———
In the Great Hall, Emily was also holding a notebook, earnestly reading and memorizing it.
But unlike John, the notebook in Emily's hands wasn't Link's, it was the Potions notebook Snape had given Link as a birthday present.
In terms of professionalism and comprehensiveness, this thing beat Link's notebook by several streets.
Link stuffed a piece of stew-soft potato into his mouth and said a bit distressed, "Darling, stop reading that broken book, eat lunch first."
"No way!" Emily responded without looking up. "You can't possibly do two people's assignments every class from now on, right? I don't want to drag you down."
Link helplessly shook his head. In the end, he could only help cut a piece of roast rib, remove the bone, and hold it to Emily's mouth.
"Then I'll feed you. Come on, open your mouth, ah~"
Hearing this, two red clouds instantly appeared on Emily's cheeks. She secretly glared at Link, but still obediently ate the piece of roast meat.
And so, the two continued, one feeding, one eating, enjoying their lunch.
The students around them immediately lost their appetites. The dog food was too strong; they were almost full from watching.
Yet no one dared to go up and say anything to Link.
After all, Link's reputation for a bad temper had already spread across Hogwarts.
Even the first-years had been "educated" overnight by upperclassmen yesterday about Link's feats. Now, toward this "legendary" senior, they were both respectful and scared.
But there were always exceptions.
The brothers George and Fred were the prime example.
Seeing Link and Emily being all lovey-dovey, the two not only didn't avoid them, but instead cheerfully walked right over and greeted, "Hey! Link, good afternoon!"
Link completely ignored them and just shifted positions to continue feeding Emily.
Emily clearly wasn't as thick-skinned as Link. Seeing George and Fred staring straight at her, she naturally couldn't eat anymore. She shook her head, put the book down, and began eating on her own.
Link put down the fork and looked at the twins expressionlessly.
"Don't be mad, Link, we just want to do a business deal with you, that's all."
"Ha! What business could I possibly do with you two?"
Link sneered.
Hearing this, George and Fred didn't get upset. They slowly spread out a piece of parchment on the table.
[Loads and loads of Galleons! Not enough pocket money to cover your expenses? Want to earn more gold? Contact George and Fred Weasley in the Gryffindor common room for a simple, painless part-time job. (Note, All jobs are at the applicant's own risk.)]
Link's eyes focused on the last line of the parchment.
It was written so small it was almost unreadable. Link squinted and studied it for a long time before reading the two words hidden between the lines after "Note", "man-eating".
Link raised his head with a strange expression as he looked at the twins.
This was actually his first time realizing the two truly had the talent to be capitalists.
"Link, we plan to recruit student workers to produce 'Instant Skiving Sweets', 'Fake Wands', and similar products to supply our sales inside Hogwarts. But we've run into a problem."
Fred stopped, and George continued, "The number of students applying to work for us is way too high. This far exceeds Hogwarts' market demand and our budget."
Fred took over again, "So we were wondering, could you take on the sales rights for our products outside the school? Of course, don't expect us to give you permanent authorization. The most we can offer is a two-year sales period, and we won't give you the recipes."
Seeing the expectant eyes of the Weasley twins, Link couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
He pushed the parchment back toward them.
"I'm not interested in doing business with you."
"Don't be like that, Link. We know your family is rich and you look down on such small Galleons. But every mosquito leg is still meat! Even mountains of gold are built coin by coin. We just..."
George continued persuading, but Fred stopped him. He grinned at Link and said, "Link, forget it if you don't want to do business, it was us overestimating ourselves. But there's another matter you absolutely must help us with!"
George seemed to catch on and quickly added, "Yeah, Link, you should be able to tell, we've never had student workers before. If Cedric, that cream-puff… cough cough... I mean, if President Cedric suddenly dislikes us and blocks us, then our business will be ruined. We don't have connections in this area, so we're asking you to help us say hello to the Student Council. Don't worry, your benefits won't be small!"
Hearing this, the cold smile on Link's face deepened.
He was willing to bet that George and Fred never intended to do business with him in the first place. Their real purpose was to have him deal with the Student Council.
Didn't expect you two bumpkins from pure-blood wizard families to know how to use the "door-in-the-face technique."
Link shook his head and said decisively, "If you're afraid of being raided by the Student Council, then treat your student workers properly and don't let any production accidents happen. As for contacting the Student Council, heh, I'm not interested in helping you with that."
With that said, and with Emily having finished eating, Link took her arm and walked out of the Great Hall.
George and Fred just stared blankly at their retreating figures.
After a long while, Fred asked worriedly, "I told you Link wouldn't agree. He never cared for small businesses like this. What do we do now?"
George paused for a moment and then said, "If it comes down to it, let's find Ron. He's a Prefect now anyway and can talk to Cedric, that creamy pretty boy. Plus, compared to others, Ron is cheap. I bet we can get him for one Galleon. The kid has never had a real Galleon."
"Now that's wrong, George." Fred said seriously. "We're brothers, such a close relationship should help each other. How could we talk money? That would be so tacky!"
George's eyes instantly lit up.
"You're right!"
"No time to waste, let's do it!"
"Let's go! We shall use love to influence our dear little brother!"
The twins immediately reached an agreement, slung their arms over each other's shoulders, and headed toward the Gryffindor common room.
At the same time, Link and Emily were strolling outside while chatting.
Of course, because their schedule required them to attend Defense Against the Dark Arts class as the first class in the afternoon, they didn't wander far from the classroom area.
The two walked slowly like this and entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with perfect timing.
Inside, Umbridge was already sitting behind the podium.
She was still wearing the same fluffy pink cardigan from last night, and there was a black velvet bow on her head.
Just like Link and Emily, quite a few others chose to enter right at the last second.
This was everyone's revenge for Umbridge's long-winded speech last night that wasted their time.
Sixth years weren't as cute as the lower years, giving a new professor a hard time on the first day was practically routine for them. And considering Umbridge's first impression was terrible, using small tricks on her was only natural.
For example, even though they entered at the last moment, they were technically only late by a few seconds or a minute.
If the professor punished them, it would make her seem petty and mean.
But if the professor didn't punish them, she would lose authority, and students would behave even worse later.
Umbridge seemed to choose the latter.
She ignored all the students chatting and giggling as they entered. When everyone finally sat down, she stood up and said, "Good afternoon, students!"
"Good afternoon."
The response was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
Because barely anyone replied, and those who did were immediately glared at by others.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Umbridge shook her head. "Students, that's not polite. Don't you think so? I expect you to answer like this, 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Let's try again.
Good afternoon, students!"
"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge."
The response was slightly louder this time, but still far below a normal volume. It was obvious that some people only mouthed the words.
But Umbridge didn't push further, she accepted it and continued in her syrupy voice, "That's better. It isn't that hard, is it?
Alright, next, put away your wands and take out your quills."
The moment she said that, muffled groans and murmurs of annoyance erupted among the students.
Some even deliberately made loud noises while taking out their books and quills.
Everyone knew, if Defense Against the Dark Arts required them to put away their wands, the class wouldn't be fun.
In fact, the class was likely going to be filled with endless theory to memorize and copy.
And Umbridge clearly intended exactly that.
She opened her handbag, pulled out a ridiculously short wand, and tapped the blackboard. Lines of text instantly appeared.
[Defense Against the Dark Arts]
[Return to Basic Theory]
"Students, your learning in this subject has always been fragmented and lacking structure, hasn't it?" Umbridge turned to face the class, fingers interlaced properly in front of her chest.
"Teachers constantly changed, and more importantly, many of them did not possess teaching qualifications. They often ignored Ministry regulations and taught you according to their own ideas."
"But now, you'll be pleased to know these problems will soon be resolved."
"The course you are taking now is carefully arranged, theory-focused, and approved by the Ministry of Magic!"
"Now, please copy this down!"
She tapped the board again, and more text appeared.
[1. Understand the fundamental principles of Defense Against the Dark Arts.]
[2. Learn to identify situations in which Defense Against the Dark Arts may be legally used.]
[3. Evaluate Defense Against the Dark Arts in practical contexts.]
These three bullet points had barely appeared when another wave of groans erupted among students.
Link and Emily exchanged a smile.