Chapter 659: The Budding of Dark Magic Talent

Tonight, the starry sky above the Ravenclaw tower was exceptionally clear.

Sean held a book, sitting on the small sofa at the edge of the window, while the small fireplace that had approached with a hop and a skip burned quietly.

His thoughts drifted involuntarily; he recalled the words Headmaster Dumbledore had spoken in the Great Hall.

Sean realized quite naturally that Headmaster Dumbledore seemed to be becoming more and more... kind and approachable.

The page in his hand turned with the breeze, and Sean thought inexplicably that this was already very good.

In the distant Headmaster's office, the portraits also had more to say.

"Yes, Albus, to choose to believe, it is not an easy thing, especially when it comes to someone who has made mistakes..."

Headmistress Dai Lisi De Wente said with a joyful smile.

Albus Dumbledore rarely did not reply; he only looked out the window, toward a distant place.

The dark treetops in the Forbidden Forest swayed like a sea of ink, and the sky was a pale, dusty pink tinged with starlight.

He directed his quill to write a big "Approved" on the application form for the Care of Magical Creatures teaching assistant.

A long time ago, someone had also applied for a teaching position.

That time, he had rejected it without hesitation;

Now, he could not be happier to agree.

"A man cannot step into the same river twice..."

Dumbledore's voice sounded like a sigh, and also like a reflection.

Having passed the bustling last day of the Christmas holiday, the little wizards would soon have to force themselves into a study state.

In the thick atmosphere of learning in the Hope Cabin, the members of the cabin soon found that they could not see a shadow of Sean.

Even in the Great Hall, they could only see his back as he hurried by.

And the reason for Sean's erratic whereabouts was also very simple: after Professor Fuliwei thanked Sineipu for the third time, Sean basically couldn't get out of his detention in the dungeons.

And his Cat-Leopard biscuits had reached the final stage, so he could only devote all his remaining time to the construction of the magical ritual.

These past few days, the warm winter sun had always been shining on Hogwarts.

In the castle, people's moods were getting better and better.

One afternoon, when going to the greenhouse to help, Professor Sprout happily told them that the Mandrakes were becoming moody and reticent, which meant they were rapidly leaving their childhood behind.

"As soon as their acne heals, they can be transplanted again."

Sean and the others listened earnestly to the professor's patient instruction,

"Then, it won't be long before we can cut them up and put them on the fire to boil.

This is the method for making the Mandrake Restorative Draught.

We can use it to restore those whose appearance has been changed by curses or Transfiguration; its powerful effect can restore the user to their original state."

This was not a simple potion, at least for Sean, whose potion talent was blue, its difficulty was greater than single-handedly fighting a Basilisk.

And the task of brewing it fell quite naturally to Sean.

Professor Sineipu announced coldly:

"Truly impressive, 'hero' Green—I hope the brewing of this potion is simpler than defeating a Basilisk."

So Sean studied Professor Sprout's handling techniques very seriously; he intended to construct the will-guiding method for the Mandrake Restorative Draught within three days, so that his detention for this week would be considered completed ahead of schedule.

Regarding his detention, while it was said to be entirely about practicing potion brewing, in reality, Sean spent the vast majority of his time learning Dark Magic and how to counter these Dark Arts.

The Dueling Club started by Professor Luohate became the place for Sean's practical training.

Every weekend, there would be "volunteer" senior Slytherin wizards trying to last a few moves against him.

Unfortunately, except for that very first time, it became very difficult for them to achieve this feat later on.

So much so that defeating a certain Mr. Green became a firm obsession for some senior Slytherins.

After all, everyone only used hexes, minor curses, and defensive magic from the Dark Arts, yet they still couldn't defeat their opponent, which clearly could only be a gap in technique.

Admitting that one was inferior in technique to a second-year little wizard was a difficult thing to do.

Whenever the Slytherins ambitiously wanted to defeat Sean, the sneer at the corner of Sineipu's mouth was hard to suppress.

Perhaps only he clearly recognized that wanting to defeat him in Dark Magic was... not as good as hoping to beat him soundly in Transfiguration.

Fantasies also have degrees of difficulty.

In such constant learning and actual combat, Sean's Sectumsempra spell also entered the 【Master】 level.

With just the final two 【Master】 level Dark Curses, he would be able to enter the ranks of Dark Magic Masters.

Although it wasn't a good title, having more trump cards was always good.

And now, Sean had to perfect the final magical ritual for the Cat-Leopard biscuits.

January unknowingly turned into February, and the bone-chilling weather had not changed in the slightest.

Not long after February began, Hufflepuff played a match against Slytherin.

Slytherin won, and it was a very close win.

According to Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, this was good news for Gryffindor; if they also defeated Hufflepuff, they could move up to second place.

Consequently, Wood increased the team's training frequency to five times a week. This meant that Harry only had two nights a week to do all his homework.

He now had to admit that he no longer put all his heart into Quidditch matches as he had before.

He was becoming more and more appreciative of the time to learn magic, and sometimes he even wanted to skip a few Quidditch practices.

But just when he thought this, Sean was so busy he was nowhere to be found, to the point that he couldn't even evaluate his own progress in learning spells.

He could only challenge Sean at the Dueling Club, only to be defeated by a single light move.

Yet despite how busy Sean was, he did not act as nervous as Hermione.

The heavy workload Hermione had taken upon herself seemed to finally be getting the better of her.

Every night, one could certainly see Hermione sitting in Sean's hut, with textbooks spread across several tables in front of her: a Runes dictionary, diagrams of Muggles moving heavy objects, and stacks upon stacks of dense notes.

She spoke to almost no one and was always sharp-tongued when interrupted; furthermore, she was often just as harsh toward herself:

"Do you know why Sean had to face the basilisk alone? Because you couldn't help!"

She would even say things like this to herself.

Compared to the changes in the few people at the Xiang Xien Society hut, Sean remained in his familiar state of busyness.

He finished the Mandrake Restorative Draught, though after Professor Sineipu took a sip, he remarked that it was: "Something not even a fool would drink."

Then, he made cat-leopard biscuits.