Chapter 55: Hagrid, who loves to learn (Edited)

Hermione, who had studied for eight hours straight, was a little tired. She stretched lazily, blinked and rehydrated her dry eyes. She put away the results of today's study and put them in her backpack. Looking at the thick stack of notes and papers, Hermione felt extremely calm and satisfied, and even Tom off to the side looked very pleased.

"Time to eat." Only then did Hermione realize that she had missed lunch and was now starving, so she dragged Tom with her into the Great Dining Room.

For dinner, Tom had prepared a lot of chicken thighs and wings, plus a lot of food for himself. Every evening he found an opportunity to let the Occamy out to feed him and clean his kettle.

After a day of review, Tom felt so confident that he began visiting each of the teachers for evaluation. The first was kindly Professor Sprout, the professor in charge of the herbalist's shop, and the dean of Hufflepuff. Then there was Professor Aurora Sinistra, who taught astronomy, and Professor McGonagall, who taught Transfiguration.

The exams went smoothly and Tom passed them all easily, receiving recognition and various pieces of advice from them. The professors' advice was surprisingly unanimous: now that you've mastered first year, start learning second year magic!

Now there is one last person left...

Severus Snape, the Potions Professor.

Tom was hesitant: he really didn't want to go see Snape for this test, after all, the best way to deal with a professor as prickly as Snape was to stay away, you'd be dead if you flaunted your knowledge in front of him.

But everything is inevitable, and at the end of a Potions class, Snape left Tom behind.

"I hear you've approached the teachers of all your subjects about giving you an early final exam?" Snape looked at Tom with his emotionless eyes.

"That's right, Professor." Tom said.

"Very well," Snape's mouth curved into a smirk, "Since our brilliant Mr. Yodel wants to add a little test to your life, to push you a little, I as a teacher will not stop you..." Snape waved his wand, his black robe fluttered and a pile of potions ingredients and a cauldron appeared on a desk.

"The test is simple, make a forgetting potion, and if anything goes wrong, you will spend the rest of your days in detention." With a stern statement, Snape made room for Tom to approach and brew the forgetfulness potion. The potion causes memory loss and was very complicated to prepare.

Snape stood behind Tom as he dispensed the potion, watching closely, his breath reaching Tom's neck. Snape decided that if he made a single mistake, he would fail Tom immediately. But Tom had let him down, he had made the forgetfulness potion perfectly.

Snape examined Tom's work with a stern face, then declared it passed with a deadpan expression. After that he left in a hurry, as if one more second in the Potions classroom would make him feel bad. But he seemed to have left in such a hurry that he had inadvertently left a notebook behind.

At this point, Tom had completed all of his theoretical progress. The rest of his days were spent in the library, practicing Quidditch and playing a few matches with the team, all of which he won. At this point both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were the winning teams, and would decide the Quidditch Cup in a straight match at the end of the school year.

Tom's life didn't break until just before Easter. On a sunny Saturday morning, Tom and Hermione were studying together in the library when they saw an unusual visitor - Hagrid.

You'd hardly associate Hagrid with the library, but right now, Hagrid is actually in the library. He shuffled around trying to make as little noise as possible, but his large size gave him away.

"Mr. Hagrid, what are you doing here?" Hermione saw him, waved Hagrid over and asked curiously.

"Ah, looking for some books..." said Hagrid in an evasive voice, which instantly piqued Hermione's interest.

"What kind of books are you looking for? Tom and I have been doing a lot of reading here, I could help you." Hermione said.

"Ah, that...no need, I'll do it myself, you guys still need to study, right? I won't bother you," Hagrid panicked, and this reaction aroused Hermione's suspicions.

"If it's about books on magical animals, we might be able to help." Tom stepped in on cue, raising a book in his hand titled "The Types of Dragons of Britain and Ireland."

Hagrid's eyes straightened.

He looked around, saw that no one was looking, and said quietly, "Well then, keep your mouths shut, I'm looking for books about dragons."

Hermione looked at him, and for a moment understood it all, but didn't say much, she got up and turned away, and returned in moments with a stack of books in her hands: 'From Egg Hatching to Nirvana', 'Guide to Dragon Breeding', 'Breeding Dragons for Pleasure and Profit', etc.

Hermione handed the books to Hagrid, "I hope this helps."

Hagrid flashed a simple, honest smile and nodded quickly, "All right, all right, I won't bother you anymore, I'll be back--"

"Hagrid! What are you doing here?" Harry, Ron and Neville appeared out of nowhere, their bags crammed with books.

Hagrid instantly became alert, "You three are still looking for Nicolas Flamel, aren't you?"

"Ha, we knew who he was hundreds of years ago!" Ron looked very proud.

"Nicolas Flamel? I remember that he seems to be a very powerful alchemist who can refine the Philosopher's Stone!" replied Tom suddenly from the side.

This sentence directly broke the defense of the four people present.

Hagrid was about to collapse: how could anyone else know the secret that Dumbledore had asked him to keep?

Ron and the others were devastated: they had been investigating for months and the chocolate frog had finally given them a clue, and this boy, Tom, knew!

Hagrid was furious, he was angry with himself, he hurled a word at the people present: "Don't investigate this again, it's none of your business" and he stormed off angrily.

Hermione looked at the three boys curiously: what do they seem to know that she doesn't?