Chapter 27

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

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Harry felt that there was something mysterious about a boy at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy.

Harry had no idea what went on in Malfoy's mind.

People said he was a bully, like Dudley, but in truth, he didn't intimidate other students that much. In fact, Harry once saw him being bullied by Rawlsus Prewett, a third-year student.

If you claim he's a bad student, that's not entirely true, he excelled in Potions, and his grades in Charms and Transfiguration were decent as well. He just seemed a little bored during Herbology.

What puzzled Harry the most was why Malfoy always made a point to approach him, no matter the situation. Every now and then, he would walk up to Harry and make a sarcastic remark.

But whenever Harry actually stood up, snapped his fingers, and got ready to argue, Malfoy would always retreat quickly.

Oddly enough, he was a good cook and enjoyed playing around.

That was Harry's impression of Draco Malfoy, and it annoyed him a little.

Fortunately, the only class Gryffindor and Slytherin had together in their first year was Potions, so their interactions were limited.

When it was time for Potions class, Harry was slightly surprised.

He had expected his conflict with Snape to continue in some way, it only seemed natural.

But Hogwarts was a school of magic, so naturally, things were bound to be unusual. That said, neither Professor McGonagall nor any other teacher had changed their attitude toward him.

The only thing that had changed was Potions class. And even there, the changes were completely different from what Harry had anticipated.

During the lesson, Snape completely ignored him. He also ignored Neville, who was in the same group as Harry.

However, Neville was at least better off, Snape still graded his homework. Even though he criticized it as if it were worse than dog dung, it was still better than Harry's assignments, which Snape never even acknowledged after they were handed in.

Harry suspected Snape threw his homework away, or worse, used it for something less dignified. The parchment used at school was quite soft, after all.

For a while, Harry considered giving up on his Potions homework entirely. But after much hesitation, he still felt that the knowledge belonged to him, and he didn't want to abandon it.

So, he continued doing his homework as usual but asked Padma and Hermione to help him check it.

Harry felt a little guilty about forgetting to share dessert with Hermione last time, he realized he had been a bit petty. After all, she was the first friend he had made at Hogwarts. To make up for it, he asked the twins to buy a small treat for Hermione.

Harry had no idea how the twins managed it, but whenever he needed something, they could smuggle desserts or other items from Hogsmeade within half a day or so.

Hermione seemed to have calmed down and was no longer giving Harry the cold shoulder. When he brought her the dessert and asked for her help with Potions homework, she hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

However, Hermione still suggested that Harry apologize to Snape, but he didn't take her advice seriously.

Compared to Harry, whose life was gradually getting back on track, his friends weren't as fortunate.

First, there was Hermione, who had only recently resumed speaking with him.

She was an academic prodigy with an incredible ability to learn. Even subjects that frustrated most Gryffindors, like Potions, and those that put everyone to sleep, like History of Magic, were effortless for her.

But while she had no weak spots in her studies, she had no blind spots in her social life either, which was part of the problem.

In just two weeks, she had managed to offend every girl in her year. None of them wanted to spend time with her, though Hermione mostly read books alone and didn't seem interested in socializing anyway.

In fact, among the first-years, aside from Harry, Ron, and Neville, who had known her for some time, most students avoided interacting with her. Even Ron only talked to her when he needed help with homework.

If Hermione's struggles were social, she didn't seem to care much. But Ron and Neville had a different issue, academics.

Compared to them, Harry's performance across all subjects was decent, even slightly above average. While he wasn't top of the class, he wasn't exactly struggling either. But Ron and Neville were a different story.

Ron's grades in Charms and Transfiguration weren't great. He performed poorly in class and was often scolded by Professor McGonagall for his homework. As for Potions, he had already been reprimanded more than five times in just three lessons.

Neville, however, was in an even worse situation than Ron.

At least Ron's magic worked sometimes. Neville, on the other hand, couldn't get spells to work at all.

So far, he hadn't successfully cast a single spell in class. He had to practice extensively after lessons before barely managing them. Even at that level, he was still struggling more than Ron, who was already a mess.

His performance in Potions was decent, likely because he was in the same group as Harry. But History of Magic? A complete disaster. His memory was terrible, and he could never seem to recall the important details.

Malfoy had actually performed quite well in Herbology. It wasn't obvious in the first week, and his work was average in the second, but by the third week, his extra points in class had even started to benefit Harry. Of course, there was no comparing him to Hermione.

Beyond classes and homework, Harry devoted more time to meditation, mental shielding, and a technique he had accidentally discovered in the library, cerebral blocking.

After attempting to learn this technique, Harry was surprised to find that it actually complemented his original mental shielding method to some extent.

The Heart Shielding Technique functioned as a barrier that could block external prying eyes while also detecting when someone was watching him.

In contrast, cerebral blocking lacked any detection ability, and its effectiveness in preventing intrusion seemed weaker than the Heart Shielding Technique. However, it had a unique advantage, it could create false thoughts.

As the name suggests, it allowed a person to fabricate layers of deceptive thoughts to mislead an observer. At higher levels of mastery, it was even possible to construct multiple layers of thought.

One layer, entirely fake, to fool simpletons. Another, appearing completely genuine but actually a false thought designed to deceive the more intelligent. An internal spiritual barrier could also be developed.

This was fascinating.

Moreover, Harry discovered that practicing these two techniques seemed to enhance his mental power significantly, more than meditation alone.

After nearly two weeks of practicing these techniques, Harry noticed an unexpected change in his eyes.

Or rather, Padma noticed it first.

At the end of the second week of classes, while working on homework, essentially, receiving private tutoring from Padma, particularly in Potions, she suddenly remarked that his eyes appeared darker.

Harry was puzzled. That evening, he carefully reread Occlumency and found a subtle note in an obscure section of the book. It stated that after reaching a certain level of mastery, emotions would become more restrained, the color of the pupils would darken, and it would become difficult for others to read expressions from the eyes.

This description seemed oddly familiar.

Harry pondered over it for a long time but couldn't recall where he had seen something similar before. In the end, he shook his head and let it go.

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The hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin was a conflict that had lasted for centuries. Naturally, Snape, the current Head of Slytherin, played a significant role in keeping that rivalry alive.

Harry estimated that, sooner or later, he would end up in some Gryffindor-Slytherin clash himself.

It was said that such incidents had occurred at least ten times throughout Hogwarts' history. If Draco Malfoy kept provoking him like this, Harry was sure he could add another to the list.

On Monday morning of the fourth week, after washing up, Harry checked his reflection in the mirror and noticed his pupils were slightly darker than the day before. He nodded in satisfaction, another sign that his Occlumency was improving.

One additional benefit of practicing Occlumency and Heart Shielding was the quality of sleep. It felt as though his mind was completely at peace, and a single night of rest left him refreshed and energized throughout the day.

When Harry entered the common room, he noticed a group of first-years gathered around the notice board.

He squeezed through the crowd, accidentally bumping into Hermione, who was reading the notice. She shot him an annoyed look before shifting slightly to give him space.

Harry wasn't particularly bothered.

The notice was short and to the point:

Flying lessons would resume on Thursday.

This was hardly unexpected. Flying lessons were supposed to have started weeks ago, but Madam Hooch, the instructor, had been invited as a guest lecturer at a professional Quidditch club and had only just returned.

The real issue bothering the Gryffindors?

They would be having the lesson with the Slytherins.

Harry had been looking forward to flying lessons for a while, though he was slightly concerned about getting his groin caught on the broomstick. What annoyed him more, however, was having to share the class with the Slytherins.

The main reason?

Draco Malfoy.

He had boasted countless times about his flying skills, claiming to be an expert in Quidditch. Every time he told his stories, he described his thrilling flying experiences in great detail, how he narrowly dodged a Muggle airplane or some other flying object.

Harry really wanted to roll his eyes.

He had done his research on broomsticks. The best models on the market had a theoretical maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour, which was fast enough to match slower helicopters.

But that was only the theoretical limit. Even professional Quidditch players rarely pushed their brooms to such speeds. And as for avoiding airplanes?

Commercial jets fly at tens of thousands of meters in altitude. Even helicopters produce powerful air currents that would make it nearly impossible for a broomstick to get close.

"If he really had that kind of skill," Ron muttered privately, "he'd already be on the national junior team's reserve squad."

Although Ron and Harry were convinced that Draco was exaggerating, the fact that he bragged so much probably meant he was at least somewhat skilled at flying.

Harry, however, had his own concerns.

During breakfast, Harry was contemplating whether he should ask Fred and George if he could borrow a broomstick for practice when he was suddenly distracted by the laughter of several students nearby.

Looking up, he saw Neville retrieving a small ball from a package that had just arrived via owl. He looked embarrassed as he held it in his hands.

"It's a Remembrall," Ron grinned. Seeing Harry's confused expression, he explained, "Just hold it in your hand. If you've forgotten something, it'll, well, you'll see."

At that moment, a red mist swirled inside the Remembrall, and the ball glowed bright red.

Neville sighed, not bothered by the laughter around him. Instead, he chuckled at himself and muttered, "Well, that's the problem, isn't it? I don't remember what I forgot…"

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