"As everyone knows, the famous thirteenth-century arithmancer Bridget Wenlock was a witch who graduated from Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts."
Professor Septima Vector of Arithmancy was an excellent witch.
Because Arithmancy was inherently a complex and somewhat boring course, she tried her best to exercise subjective initiative during teaching, mobilizing everyone's classroom enthusiasm so that students wouldn't fall asleep drowsily like in History of Magic.
"After graduating from Hogwarts, Bridget Wenlock continued to focus on researching Arithmancy.
Like many other magical researchers, Wenlock was very concerned about protecting her discoveries.
She was so suspicious that she wrote entirely in invisible ink, with sentences upside down and reversed, in extremely messy handwriting.
However, the absent-minded woman often quickly forgot where she had placed those small pieces of paper with invisible notes.
Therefore, in Wenlock's hometown, she could often be seen retracing her steps, casting Revealing Charms on every small piece of paper she encountered, searching for arithmantic calculations she had lost.
I must remind everyone that although Wenlock's academic achievements are commendable, you must not learn such terrible habits."
Hearing Professor Vector's words, all the students laughed, and the classroom was immediately filled with cheerful atmosphere.
"One day, while eating breakfast, Wenlock wrote down a magical theory.
Coincidentally, on the same day, she also wrote a letter to her cousin.
However, after the letter was sent, she suddenly realized that the envelope seemed to have her newly discovered important theory written in invisible ink.
Under these circumstances, Wenlock immediately grabbed a broomstick and tried to catch up with the owl delivering the mail.
However, the owl refused to give the letter to anyone other than the recipient—even though Wenlock was the sender.
So, after being pecked and scratched by the owl several times, Wenlock had to follow the owl hundreds of miles to her cousin's home in John O'Groats village."
Next, Professor Vector carefully described what Wenlock saw and experienced during this flight of hundreds of miles.
His story was very interesting, with twists and turns that were captivating.
For this type of story-opening class, all the students found it very novel, so they listened very attentively.
"After going through countless hardships and finally retrieving the envelope from her cousin, Wenlock cast a Revealing Charm on it.
But she discovered that what was written on it was just a cake recipe."
When Professor Vector reached this point, he paused, and all the students who had originally breathed a sigh of relief showed surprised expressions.
Some young wizards couldn't help but gasp.
"Setting up for a reversal."
"Building suspense before the revelation."
Sherlock and Hermione simultaneously offered evaluations with similar meanings.
Sure enough, Professor Vector continued.
"Undoubtedly, Wenlock was very disappointed by this.
Never could she have imagined that when she returned to her home in Tinworth, she would be delighted to discover that her calculations had actually been messily written on a sugar packet, which was now lying on her kitchen table.
Thus, Bridget Wenlock finally successfully published this theory and, relying on it, became a famous arithmancer who would be remembered for centuries to come.
Oh, by the way, a few years ago, a Hufflepuff student even dueled with a Ravenclaw prefect at the time.
Because the latter claimed that Bridget Wenlock was from their house.
As a result, Professor Sprout didn't give him a week's detention as usual, but only gave him a warning and a box of coconut ice."
At this point, everyone laughed, especially the little Badgers, who laughed even more happily.
"Now here's the question."
The smiles immediately disappeared from everyone's faces, and most people lowered their heads, afraid the teacher would call on them.
Professor Vector chuckled softly, his gaze sweeping over all the students as he asked.
"Can anyone tell me what theory made Bridget Wenlock a famous arithmancer, so much so that Hogwarts students would even duel for her honor?"
Hermione immediately shot her hand up.
Giving the entire classroom a perfect demonstration of standing out from the crowd.
Hermione stood up and said calmly, "Wenlock discovered the magical properties of the number seven."
"Very good! Seven points to Gryffindor!"
Professor Vector continued asking, "Now, Miss Granger, can you tell me what magic the number seven actually possesses?"
She had originally thought it would be excellent if Hermione could mention two or three properties, but unexpectedly, when Hermione heard this question, her eyes immediately lit up and her spirits lifted.
She cleared her throat and began recounting as if it were a familiar inventory.
"Seven is the age when magical ability should manifest, magical schools have seven years, standard Quidditch matches have seven players per team, wizards come of age at seventeen, in Ancient Runes the symbol representing 'Unknown' symbolizes 7..."
As Hermione listed more and more examples, Professor Vector's delight grew increasingly obvious.
He hadn't expected that after just giving her a start, this young witch named Hermione Granger would mention so many things related to seven.
"Excellent! You've earned another seven points for Gryffindor!"
When she stopped, Professor Vector's admiration was practically overflowing.
"By the way, you missed two key pieces of information."
Hermione was stunned. She was certain she had mentioned everything she had ever read about the number seven, even including some things that seemed far-fetched to her.
Having spoken so much in one breath, she was even feeling a bit parched now.
Seeing Hermione's puzzled look, Professor Vector revealed the answer.
"Your speech just now lasted exactly seven minutes, and your name, Granger, also has seven letters."
"..."
"Granger having seven letters seems a bit too deliberate," Harry couldn't help saying to Sherlock when class ended. "If we're going by that logic, Weasley also has seven letters."
"Magic is just like that," Sherlock wasn't surprised by this. "Compared to Divination, this is much better."
"When you put it that way, you're right. But it would be even better if it didn't require memorizing all those complex numerical charts."
Although he had only attended one class, Harry already sensed this would be a very challenging course.
No wonder when selecting courses last year, Neville had asked others whether Arithmancy was harder than Ancient Runes Study.
"Even so, using more rigorous methods to predict the future is much better than randomly guessing by looking at tea leaves."
Hermione suddenly spoke up, startling Harry.
He looked around and asked somewhat puzzledly, "Hermione, what's been going on with you lately? Why do you keep appearing and disappearing?"
When they had left the classroom, Hermione had specifically said to let Sherlock and Harry go first, that she had a small question to ask the teacher, but in the blink of an eye she had already appeared.
"You were just focused on talking with Sherlock and didn't notice me, right?"
"Is that so?" Harry felt somewhat confused.
Hermione said confidently, "That's exactly right!"
"Uh... okay."
Harry was also uncertain, but seeing Hermione so confident, he could only accept it.
Time came to Thursday morning's Potions class.
Professor Snape still wore his eternally sour expression.
Perhaps because his coveted Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship had been snatched by Professor Lupin, all the students felt he was even gloomier than last term.
Of course, this gloominess was only directed at Gryffindor students, the Slytherin students didn't feel this way at all.
"Five points from Gryffindor!"
As soon as class began, Professor Snape gave the little lions a warning shot. The reason was simple. Neville was late to class.
However, just five minutes later, when Malfoy also arrived late, he lazily said, "Sit down, Malfoy."
This made the little lions indignant.
This differential treatment was too obvious!
"Sir, why..."
"Mate, calm down!"
Seeing Harry raise his hand to speak, Ron immediately panicked, trying to pull his friend back to prevent him from being impulsive.
But it was too late—Harry had already asked the rest of his question.
"...does Neville get points deducted for being late while Malfoy doesn't?"
"Are you questioning a professor's decision, Potter?"
Snape whipped around toward Harry, his greasy black hair swinging with the movement.
"I just think it's unfair, sir."
Harry tried to speak in as calm a tone as possible.
"Because Mr. Malfoy had already asked for leave beforehand."
Snape stared into Harry's green eyes, his expression momentarily dazed.
But as his gaze moved upward to see Harry's messy black hair, his eyes immediately filled with disgust.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, for wanting to accuse a professor in class."
Although they were used to Professor Snape deducting points from Harry, thinking that Neville's tardiness only cost five points while Harry merely asking a question cost ten points, the entire class still gasped.
Too brutal!
The Slytherin students showed gloating expressions upon seeing this scene.
The Gryffindor students glared at them angrily.
Although Gryffindor had lost another ten points, not a single person blamed Harry for it.
On the contrary, after he sat down, nearby classmates praised him.
"Well done, Potter!"
"Worthy of being the Boy Who Lived—you didn't let us down!"
"Cheer up, Longbottom. Potter stood up for you, why are you still looking so glum?"
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