"Speaking of which, Hermione is already thirteen years old this year..."

Alinea murmured thoughtfully, sizing up the gradually maturing little beaver beside her.

At that moment, Hermione was stirring the solvent in her cauldron. Second-year Potions class was still in pairs for the time being. Although Hermione was still continuously pinching lemons in her heart, she wouldn't abandon the task at hand.

"Yeah, just a year older than you... our birthdays are right next to each other, aren't they?"

Hermione replied calmly, without even raising her head.

"I really like the birthday gift you gave me, and I also know that the final decision on teaching Ancient Runes rests with Professor Apocalypse. It's just a special flame manipulation technique, I'm not envious at all..."

"If I remember correctly, you had your period last week, right... I saw it in the bathroom trash can—"

"Yes... is there something wrong, Alinea?"

Hermione's face turned pink, and she glared at the white-haired fluffball beside her.

"I mean..."

Alinea leaned close to Hermione Granger's ear, lowered her voice, and whispered.

"This also means that Granger can be considered an adult. How about trying some things that only adult wizards can do with me outside of school later? Some forbidden things that only adult wizards can do. Besides, aren't you curious about the area outside Hogwarts' gates?"

"Adult wizards... can... do... things... forbidden..."

Hermione's feet under the table fidgeted back and forth a few times, and her delicate earlobes instantly turned red.

"What kind of things... adult wizards... the forbidden area outside the school..."

"Advanced Mathematics, Advanced Physics, Advanced Chemistry... the most brilliant crystallization of scientific civilization to date; Alchemy, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms... the most ancient and mysterious sparks of magical civilization; they are now fiercely colliding with each other not far outside Hogwarts' gates, blooming with the light of the future of human civilization—"

Alinea said, her delicate little face flashing with light.

After the initial transformation a few days ago, in addition to the development of flame abilities, her original magical abilities, as well as physical strength and energy, have also been slightly strengthened, and the changes are so obvious that Alinea can clearly perceive them.

Perhaps it won't work on those gayish potatoes and carrots, but it's still very useful for charming wings.

"For example, look," Alinea said, pointing mysteriously at the cauldron, "See that? The new type of refreshing solvent that everyone is learning in class today—this is the brilliant spark intertwined with magic and science. Do you want to go?"

At the table, Hermione turned her head to look at Alinea, listening carefully.

This was the first time she had heard what was happening outside the school.

Unlike the printed words in textbooks, from Alinea's mouth, Hermione saw a beautiful and dreamy scene that she had never imagined before. New knowledge was gradually being born—perhaps just a few hundred meters away from them.

"Where? When do we go?" Hermione said quickly.

"Not far from here."

Alinea said, her eyebrows and eyes filled with excitement and triumph: The little beaver didn't pass the charm test!

"Actually, it's just in that area outside Hogwarts' gates. Didn't Professor Dumbledore say at the beginning of the school year that that area is absolutely forbidden for all students? Of course, because it's not just Muggle scholars who live there, but a microcosm of half of human civilization—but knowledge is not always safe, is it?"

"Only people like Professor Lockhart, Professor Quirrell, or Mr. Nicolas Flamel and Professor Albus Dumbledore, are qualified to represent wizards to enter that area, to identify and integrate the two civilizations."

"That area outside Hogwarts' gates..."

Hermione repeated, looking at Alinea meaningfully.

"Those plans at the school gate seem to have started near the end of last semester, right? Wait, there's also an inexplicable question, why did we first encounter textbooks written by Americans last year?"

"Ah, that's because—"

Alinea was stunned, opening her mouth in a daze.

The plan could not keep up with the changes.

Who could have imagined that she, Alinea Kaslana, a black-hearted little darling from an orphanage, could transform into the Empress of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in less than a year, and even take over part of the afterglow of the Red Will.

However, with Hermione's current authority alone, it is temporarily not suitable to be exposed to too many "greater ideals."

Looking at Hermione's increasingly suspicious bright brown eyes, Alinea's little tuft of hair jumped around tangledly.

But at this moment, Snape suddenly called out:

"Now, I think you should be close to completing the operation. This potion needs to be cooked and further processed before it can be used; in ten minutes, pack up your things while the potion is boiling, and then the remaining procedures will be taken over by the upperclassmen..."

"Oh, of course..."

Snape said, paused, his black eyes flashing with bright malice.

"Your names will be affixed to each potion bottle. If anything goes wrong, or if those upperclassmen lose points... don't worry, I will kindly and seriously tell them that it's all because of their lack of skill."

The actions of all the students in the class suddenly stopped, and the relaxed expressions on many students' faces began to become serious.

Neville Longbottom looked at the soup in his cauldron with despair.

At the end of last semester, he personally witnessed how some unlucky Gryffindor upperclassmen endured dozens of duel challenges in one day, and almost really "died" on Professor Apocalypse's arena.

Of course, in a sense, "death" might be easier.

Since "Enervate," "Episkey," and the most terrifying "wyrd" runes began to become commonplace, high-intensity duels have truly become battles that are like slow slicing—you don't even have a chance to faint.

In fact, Neville was not afraid of fighting, he was actually more worried about his grandmother's disappointed expression after knowing all this.

Compared to subjects such as Herbology, History of Magic, Mathematics, and Grammar, which can be improved through hard work and time accumulation, Neville performed much worse in courses involving creativity and spellcasting. Among so many courses at Hogwarts, Potions has almost become the course he learned the worst.

Of course, the main reason is that from the second half of last semester, Neville became very afraid of Snape.

Due to his talent in processing and sorting medicinal materials, Neville, like Harry and Draco, was naturally classified by Professor Snape as a sequence of "future promising" little wizards with potion talents.

When the gap between expectation and reality is particularly large, things naturally become ten times worse.

And what made Neville uneasy and uncomfortable was that Professor Snape didn't seem to intend to give up... instead, he paid more and more attention to Neville's mistakes in class, which almost made him start to have a mental breakdown.

For example, his potion at this time should be a bright yellow, warm, and sweet solvent, instead of—

"Yellow-green, Longbottom."

Snape strolled to Neville's side, and Neville reflexively cowered beside his cauldron.

The cold Potions professor narrowed his eyes, scooped out a little with a spoon, and then splashed it back into the cauldron so that all the students in the class could see—a few drops of yellow-green substance fell on the wooden table, making a terrifying sizzling sound.

"Highly corrosive, yellow-green. Tell me, boy, has something penetrated your thick skull? Didn't you hear me, clearly saying, follow the steps I gave on the blackboard? Didn't I clearly say not to mix the descriptions in the book and never add nitrate stone? Longbottom!"

Snape bent down and stared into Neville's eyes from under his hooked nose.

"You have successfully turned a refreshing potion into a poison that is even more powerful than concentrated nitric acid... tell me, are you enjoying this creative moment very much, how to ruin potions in a variety of ways and with wild imagination?!"

Neville's face turned a deep red like a pig's liver, and he was trembling.

"Sir," Harry suddenly spoke, "Sir, if you allow it, can I help him fix it?"

"There are only fifteen minutes left before class, Harry... Mr. Potter."

Snape frowned, his gaze stayed on Harry's green eyes for a few seconds, his expression was dazed for half a second.

In the underground classroom more than ten years ago, he seemed to have seen a similar scene somewhere.

"Very well, if you intend to do so... at the end of class today, Mr. Longbottom's performance of the potion will be used as one of the assessment scores for your class today, as for your own—"

Snape's gaze fell on Draco Malfoy, who was partnered with Harry Potter, and said softly.

"Mr. Malfoy, if you can take over and complete it alone, then you can win ten points for Slytherin."

"Wait! Professor Snape, Harry just kindly mentioned it."

Draco Malfoy's gaze lingered on Neville's pile of seemingly hopeless strong acid solvent for a moment, and he showed an apologetic expression to the round-faced boy, then Draco turned his head and said seriously.

"Harry, don't be silly, this is impossible to complete! There's no way this can be done in such a short time..."

"The strong corrosiveness can accelerate the nitration treatment of walking mushrooms, as long as the medicinal properties are neutralized, theoretically, it should be possible to complete."

Harry Potter thought for a few seconds, then hesitated and said softly.

"So... you plan to stir out the new potion with your tongue? Hmm?"

Professor Snape raised his eyebrows noncommittally, thought for a while, and added.

"By the way, Mr. Harry Potter, remember to take your own textbook—if you don't succeed, then you will also earn an extra classroom reward for yourself, two weeks of detention—as the price for your arrogance."

"I understand, Professor Snape."

Harry Potter nodded extremely seriously, carefully picking up his old textbook.

"Trust me, Draco—it's okay."

……

Half an hour later.

Hermione and Alinea climbed the stairs to the entrance hall.

The little beaver was still thinking about the charming changes Alinea mentioned, but Alinea frowned and recalled the little episode that had just happened in the classroom. A strange thing suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Textbook, old textbook... nitration treatment..."

Speaking of which, Harry's progress in Potions this semester is really a bit surprising.

Now, carefully recalling and counting, the number of times the "Boy Who Lived" has won first place in Potions class seems to be a bit outrageous, even if she has been a little lazy this semester, he shouldn't suddenly perform so consistently.

"Hermione, don't you think Harry seems to have some kind of cheat this year..."

"Hmm? Cheat?" Hermione came back to her senses and blinked confusedly.

"I mean... a cheat code—look, Draco should also have noticed something is wrong."

Alinea slowly stopped, turned around, and glanced at the two boys trailing at the back of the crowd.

They were now standing at the top of the stairs, watching the rest of the class walk past them towards the hall for lunch, and in the non-stop flow of people, Harry and Draco, who were still standing at the bottom and arguing about something, became particularly conspicuous.

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New year, new atmosphere! Hooray!