After Hermione returned, she noticed that Ron kept looking at her strangely.
His eyes were filled with pity.
He would shake his head and sigh from time to time.
Hermione couldn't take it anymore: "Ron, just say it directly. Stop looking at me like that."
Ron sighed and said, "Hermione, you have no idea what you've missed."
He left without waiting for Hermione's reaction, shaking his head and humming a tune.
Hermione was completely baffled.
She looked at Harry: "Did something happen to Ron over Christmas?"
Harry shook his head and said, "Don't worry about him. He's having a temporary lapse in sanity. It's part of brain development."
Hermione didn't understand, so she buried her head in her homework.
Students had been so relaxed before Christmas.
After Christmas, they were busy.
After the holidays, the professors seemed to be rushing through the syllabus, trying to make up for the lost time during the break.
They not only sped up the teaching pace but also assigned tons of homework.
In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall started teaching them how to change inanimate objects into living creatures. They had to turn a delicate cup into a rat.
This made many young witches and wizards who hadn't even mastered the transformation of inanimate objects cry out in despair.
Especially after seeing Harry effortlessly transform a cup into a lively, scurrying little mouse, they felt the sting of "someone else's child syndrome."
Even though Harry was one of her students.
She was deeply dissatisfied with the slow learning progress of the other students, so she simply threw out a sentence before leaving, "Submit an 8-inch paper." Then she left.
The students looked like they were ready to give up on life.
In Charms class, they were no longer learning new charms.
Instead, they were learning precise control over existing charms.
The unlocking charm could only unlock one side of the door, the other lock could not be destroyed.
Seamus became the second person, after Harry, to successfully do it.
He blew up one side of the door, leaving the other side intact.
The force of the explosion was perfectly controlled.
This impressed even Harry.
Potions class no longer used ordinary herbs to brew potions.
They were now using magical ingredients.
These magical ingredients possessed magic, which had a certain degree of uncontrollability. Even the same magical ingredient, under the same operation, could lead to different outcomes. The formulas on the blackboard might not even be accurate.
If you didn't know how to adapt to the situation, it would be very difficult to brew a successful potion.
As Snape had said from the beginning, Potions class doesn't require silly waving of wands.
Neville was very worried about this.
Even Harry encountered some problems, and Snape seized the opportunity to deduct points, venting his anger at being troubled by Harry.
Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, was clearly the busiest. The young witches and wizards started learning to take care of magical plants. These magical plants were quite troublesome, so Professor Sprout had to constantly move around, helping them deal with these lovely little creatures.
Even Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher, read the textbook faster, but still used the same monotonous and cold tone, making the students drowsy. Harry felt like the AI's reading speed was set to 1.25x.
This speed was good, but Harry thought 1.5x would be better.
The only one who hadn't changed was Professor Quirrell. He continued following the previous teaching plan, reciting textbook knowledge that was of no use, completely disregarding whether these young witches and wizards would pass the year-end exams.
However, his students actually liked him more because he was the only professor who didn't increase their workload.
Harry had already mastered self-study in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Learning from the professor was practically a death sentence.
The professors used this method to remind the students that the holiday was over.
The Gryffindors looked at their parchment, bewildered and clueless.
After just one holiday, it felt like they had forgotten everything.
They could only obediently gather around Harry and listen to him explain the concepts.
They didn't have any specific questions because they didn't understand anything, so they didn't need to queue up one by one to ask.
They directly started Harry's little class, with Harry as the main speaker and Hermione as the assistant teacher.
Professor McGonagall was pleased to discover that this group of Gryffindor young witches and wizards, although just as mischievous and rowdy as ever, and even had an unprecedented incident of a first-year group brawl,
they were also the best-learning group. If they could maintain this momentum, they would probably become the Gryffindor class with the highest number of O.W.L. passes in Year Five.
The professors' teaching arrangements and homework didn't affect Harry much.
He continued to stick to his own intense and fulfilling study plan.
Time passed slowly. The harsh winter was gradually giving way to spring, and the wide lawn in front of Hogwarts was slowly turning green again.
The Gryffindors finally began to adapt to this rhythmic life.
After a day of classes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the library together.
The difference was, Harry and Ron were reading books, while Hermione was doing homework.
Yes, Ron was there too. He wasn't sleeping in the library anymore.
He was flipping through books seriously, although they had nothing to do with the courses.
But at least he was reading, which was an improvement.
Harry thought Ron's brain must finally be developing.
"Harry, can I see your Transfiguration paper? I don't understand some parts," Hermione whispered to Harry.
Harry pulled out a stack of papers from his bag and handed them to Hermione: "They're all here. Just find whichever you want."
"Thanks." Hermione took them all without hesitation.
"Ooh, Ms. Granger, you've fallen from grace, haven't you?" Ron said in a sarcastic voice.
"Shut up. I'm just borrowing some ideas. Unlike you, I wouldn't just copy!" Hermione whispered angrily.
Ron made a face, and Hermione gritted her teeth, pulling out her wand.
Ron calmed down and lowered his head to read.
Mrs. Pince coughed lightly, reminding them.
Seeing Ron constantly flipping through the books, not like he was reading, but rather looking for something,
Harry curiously asked, "What are you looking for?"
"The Philosopher's Stone!" Ron spat out the words.
"You still haven't given up on finding this thing?" Hermione leaned in and said.
"Yeah, you and Harry aren't interested in it, so I have to find it myself." Ron said.
"Is this thing hard to find?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I've flipped through every book, but I haven't found any mention of the Philosopher's Stone." Ron sighed.
"Oh, well, you keep looking." Harry lowered his head and continued reading.
Ron's eyes suddenly lit up. He turned to Harry and said, "How about we go find Hagrid? He must know something about the Philosopher's Stone!"
Although Harry wasn't interested in the Philosopher's Stone, it had been two months. It wouldn't hurt to see Hagrid, so he nodded and said, "Let's go on Saturday then."
When Hermione finished her homework, Ron quickly put it into his own bag, before his own homework was even touched.
After all this time, Hermione finally finished her homework.