Harry Potter: Becoming a Top Student from Scratch

"You asked a professor?" Michael said in surprise. "After Snape's class, you still had the guts to talk to a professor?"

Theo chuckled. "Professor Sprout is different—she's really kind. And I figured, instead of sneaking around practicing spells, why not just ask for permission first? It's not like practicing spells is a bad thing."

"So then what? Professor Sprout gave us a place to use?" Wade asked.

"Exactly," Theo nodded. "An unused, empty classroom. Professor Sprout said it should meet our needs."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!" Michael said cheerfully—he'd long been tired of the suffocating atmosphere in the library.

Just as Wade was about to leave, he suddenly turned back.

In the vast library, Hermione was hunched over a book by herself. She looked quite lonely.

Wade remembered—at this point in time, Hermione didn't have any friends yet.

"Hang on a second," he said to the others. "Let me go get someone."

He tapped lightly on the book in front of her. Hermione looked up and saw Wade smiling at her.

"Hermione, we're going to go practice spells together. Want to come?"

"Hogwarts was the first magical school ever founded. A long time ago, it was basically where all underage wizards in Europe went to study. But later, more magic schools were established, and a lot of witches and wizards chose to move to America. Their children went to Ilvermorny," Theo explained, panting as they climbed the stairs.

"Hogwarts is designed to accommodate one to two thousand students, and over a hundred professors," he continued. "But now there are only two or three hundred students, so many classrooms are left unused. For safety reasons, the school has hidden most of these abandoned classrooms."

"Professor Sprout told us about an unused Charms classroom—it should be pretty spacious," Ryan added. "It's behind the portrait of Miss Claudia with the umbrella, on the third floor."

They wandered down the corridor for a while before finally spotting the portrait, near the west tower.

A breeze gently stirred the flowers on a grassy meadow. A blonde girl stood beneath a white parasol adorned with pink flowers, gazing sadly into the distance, her body turned away from them.

Ryan tapped his wand three times on the left side of the painting and said the password: "Sunshine, golden daisies."

The girl lifted her skirts and stepped aside, and the portrait swung open. One by one, the group stepped through. When the painting closed again, the blonde girl in the portrait turned her umbrella to the other side, and it began to rain gently within the frame.

The classroom had clearly been unused for a long time. A thick layer of dust coated the floor, tables and chairs were scattered about in disarray, and old books and discarded parchment littered the ground. A row of empty, partly broken wooden shelves lined one wall. In the corner, there was a stack of practice spell targets—most of them were damaged.

"Well, looks like we need to clean the place up before we can do any practicing," said Hermione, rolling up her sleeves. "Who's going to get some water?"

"I'll go!" Theo raised his hand. "I'll grab some cleaning supplies too."

"Why don't we just ask the house-elves to clean it for us?" Michael said lazily. "You know Hogwarts has a whole bunch of house-elves, right?"

Ryan was already crouching down to lift a toppled chair.

"Hold on, everyone," Wade said, stopping Theo before he left. "We came here to practice spells—so why not start by cleaning the room with magic?"

"What? No way," Michael looked at him in disbelief.

"Scourgify and Reparo—let's start with those two," Wade said, looking at Ryan. "And if we need to move chairs and desks, we'll use the Levitation Charm."

"Alright! This is going to be a big project, but it sounds fun," Theo said with a grin.

Ryan thought for a moment, then deliberately knocked over the chair he had just stood upright. He raised his wand. "Scourgify!"

One of the desks became slightly cleaner, but there was still visible grime in the crevices.

Wade blinked.

"Ryan, try again," he said.

Ryan cast the cleaning spell again, but the effect was still unimpressive.

This time, Wade was sure he saw it clearly—when Ryan waved his wand, he could faintly see another arc layered over the movement. The two arcs overlapped—similar, yet different. It made it very clear to Wade why Ryan's spell hadn't worked as well as it should have.

It was just like in a video game, when a cheat mod calculates the optimal path and attack angle for you.

"Ryan, try casting it like this—lift your wand a little higher, and be more decisive at the end," Wade demonstrated. "Also, when you say Scourgify, soften the gi sound a bit. Try again."

Ryan paused—maybe it was because Hufflepuffs naturally trusted Ravenclaws' intellect, but he didn't question it. He simply adjusted his wand movements and cast again: "Scourgify!"

The desk instantly gleamed as if it had been polished to a mirror finish. Even the floor beneath it sparkled, looking too clean for a fly to land on.

Ryan's eyes widened. He looked at his wand, then at Wade, and mumbled, "How did you do that?"

The others had similar reactions. They all gathered around to examine the desk. Theo even crouched down to run his hand over it in amazement.

"Ryan! I had no idea! You're a spell-casting genius!"

"No—it's not because of me—" Ryan said, confused. He tried casting the spell again, but because he was flustered, the result wasn't as good as before.

Wade said nothing. He cast the spell himself but didn't see any of the extra arcs—just like how he could see the names above other people's heads, but not his own.

Still, guiding Ryan had given him a clear understanding of what correct spellcasting looked like. So when he cast it, it was flawless—and covered a larger area than Ryan's.

Wade had everyone else try the cleaning spell too. As expected, he saw faint golden arcs each time. Even Hermione's spell wasn't perfect—just closer to standard than the others.

He gave them all individual feedback, helping each of them refine their casting. In doing so, his own understanding deepened. Before long, a casual wave of his wand—without even saying the incantation—could produce a perfect Scouring Charm.

If his "golden finger" had a name, Wade thought it might be something like a Good Teacher System—he could glance at a student and know exactly what to correct. Even when multiple people cast spells at once, he could tell who was being diligent and who was slacking. In one-on-one tutoring, he could fine-tune things precisely, helping students master a spell in the shortest time possible.

Unfortunately, his golden finger was a silent one. Wade didn't know what other features it might have, so he could only explore it step by step.

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