After finishing the book, Adrian shook his head sadly. He couldn't help wondering which poor person had been unlucky enough to tell their stories to Lockhart before getting their memory wiped...
The amount of detail made it clear the real author had gotten very close to the smelly creatures.
Adrian closed the book and put it back. Even knowing the troll's weak spots, he still needed to prepare a lot, better potions, stronger spells. The problem was that all of this needed grade points, and he didn't have nearly enough.
The best way to earn grade points was answering questions in class, but Adrian quickly learned that being a perfect student wasn't as easy as he'd thought.
The competition was tough, especially from a certain bushy-haired know-it-all who shot her hand up the second any teacher asked a question, then gave perfect answers with obvious pride.
After Adrian joined the fight, every class became a two-person battle with competing raised hands.
Hermione seemed to love the challenge, working even harder and often staying in the library with Adrian until it closed and the lights went out.
Adrian felt a bit guilty about this. He only wanted to earn grade points to prepare for the troll, but Hermione's competitive nature had cut his point gain by more than half. He couldn't bear to completely crush her excitement, so he decided to use some... creative methods.
"The Disarming Charm and Impediment Jinx will be what we focus on for the next few lessons, and they'll become some of your most used spells in the future," Professor Flitwick announced from on top of his stack of books, showing the wand movements to the first-year students.
After more than ten years of teaching, Professor Flitwick knew how to quickly get his young students interested in what they were learning.
"Now then, can anyone tell me what the Disarming Charm does and how it works?" Professor Flitwick looked hopefully at his class.
Hermione's hand shot up right away, and she glanced sideways at Adrian, clearly seeing him as her only real academic threat.
But to her complete surprise, Adrian just stood up and spoke to Professor Flitwick directly.
"The spell is Expelliarmus, Professor. It forces an opponent to drop their wand when it hits them. It also pushes them back, how much depends on how skilled the caster is and how much stronger they are magically."
Professor Flitwick, who'd been about to call on Hermione, found himself speechless for a moment as Adrian gave a complete explanation.
"Excellent answer. Two points to Gryffindor," he managed, though he felt he had to add, "However, Mr. Blackwood, I think you should raise your hand before answering next time."
"Of course, Professor," Adrian replied, checking his system rewards happily before sitting down.
His polite attitude made Professor Flitwick feel better, thinking Adrian was just excited about learning. He cleared his throat and continued.
"Next question then. The Impediment Jinx—"
Before he could finish, Adrian was standing again.
"Impedimenta, Professor. It creates a magical wall that blocks attacks from one direction. The good thing is that you can layer multiple walls for stronger defense, but the bad thing is you're still open to attacks from other angles."
"Am I right, Professor?" Adrian asked with an innocent smile.
Hermione stared at him in shock. He'd answered before she'd even had time to raise her hand.
The other students looked a bit scared of Adrian. Did he really need to be quite so... intense about answering questions?
"Yes," Professor Flitwick said weakly, waving for Adrian to sit. This time he didn't even give points.
Adrian didn't mind, his system only needed the professor to approve, not give points.
"Let's continue with the next topic..." Professor Flitwick began, then looked at Adrian and quickly changed his mind. "Actually, I think I'll just lecture for the rest of class."
Once Adrian had figured out his classroom strategy, his grade point earning sped up a lot. While Hermione was brilliant and competitive, she was still too polite to use Adrian's more... aggressive tactics.
Hermione's cheeks would puff out adorably whenever Adrian pulled these tricks. At first, she'd remind him that interrupting class was rude and they should compete fairly.
Adrian would just shake his head firmly. This wasn't really "stealing" answers from other students, was it? Besides, he wasn't technically breaking any school rules.
The Hogwarts founders probably never thought someone could be quite so "excited" about learning when they wrote the student handbook.
Adrian figured that if they could see him now, they'd probably cry happy tears in their graves.
Hermione eventually accepted Adrian's excuse that he was trying to make up for losing five points during flying lessons, feeling guilty about costing their house points. His apparent dedication to making things right made her grudgingly accept his methods.
While Adrian celebrated his success, the various professors were getting serious headaches. They'd dealt with troublemakers before, but never a student who aggressively answered questions correctly. Since Adrian's answers were always right and he seemed sorry when reminded about classroom manners, the professors couldn't really scold him properly.
Feeling confident about his success, Adrian decided to test his limits in the most dangerous place of all, Potions class with Professor Snape.
Snape, who obviously favored Slytherin and clearly hated Gryffindor students, was less patient. After class, he personally warned Adrian that if he saw him stand up and answer without permission again, he'd take away every single point Adrian had earned for his house.
But as soon as Snape swept out of the dungeon, Adrian's system chimed as expected:
[Potions class completed]
[Overall class evaluation: Satisfactory (Excellent)]
[Evaluator: Severus Snape]
[Reward: Grade Points x10]
"Tsundere," Adrian muttered, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He was starting to think he might be able to push things just a little bit further...