Sterling had thick dark circles under his eyes and mechanically attempted to stuff a long bread roll into his mouth like a malfunctioning robot. After several unsuccessful attempts that resulted in hitting his cheeks instead, his foggy eyes still couldn't focus properly on the simple task.
"What's wrong with him?" a senior student who had just sat down asked Hermione, who was seated directly across from Sterling. She shrugged helplessly in response.
"Don't tell me he's been traumatised by yesterday's Potions class... What's your first class this morning?" The senior frowned with concern until he heard Hermione answer "History of Magic", then his expression relaxed considerably.
"That's perfectly fine then. It's ideal for catching up on sleep so you can attend afternoon classes properly."
He took several quick bites of his jam-covered bread and prepared to leave, patting Sterling's shoulder before departing. The gesture nearly knocked the still-dazed Sterling completely over.
"Don't lose heart over one bad class. Keep earning points for Ravenclaw in Herbology this afternoon. You too," he added, glancing meaningfully at Hermione.
Sterling's exceptional Transfiguration abilities had been personally verified by Prefect Robert. He was essentially an unstoppable point-earning machine among the younger students. As for Charms... he probably represented a promising prospect in that subject as well.
The upper-year Ravenclaws were typically individuals who only cared about their own academic pursuits and weren't particularly enthusiastic about actively raising hands in class to earn House points.
So now that the first-years had produced two eager participants like Sterling and Hermione, all the senior Ravenclaws were watching carefully. Whether they could successfully snatch the House Cup back from Slytherin's grasp depended entirely on these newcomers.
As long as they could give Ravenclaw a leading advantage, those self-centred upperclassmen might not be enthusiastic about climbing to the peak, but they wouldn't shirk from the relatively simple task of defending their throne.
"History of Magic?" Sterling repeated the words as if he were dreaming. He felt genuinely exhausted to the point of mental flight. Getting started with Mourning the Demon Dragon had been deceptively simple, but actually achieving the draconification of existing magic proved incredibly difficult.
He had worked through the entire night just to complete the draconification of his thorn magic abilities.
Now both his magical reserves and mental energy were severely depleted. He had originally wanted to use The Witness of the Author this morning to remotely observe whether the saviour had experienced any special incidents, but considering the consequence of completely draining his remaining energy...
He would definitely end up in the hospital wing again.
Three visits to the hospital wing in less than one week? That would certainly be memorable.
"Yes, weren't you quite interested before? After hearing from Senior Penelope that the professor is actually a ghost..."
Hearing the word "ghost", Sterling's cloudy eyes suddenly cleared with sharp focus. He swallowed the long bread that had been smearing against his face repeatedly in just two decisive bites.
"When do we need to go to the classroom?"
Hermione looked at him as if witnessing something completely incomprehensible. First, she wanted to clarify that she wasn't discriminating against any particular subjects, but she genuinely believed that compared to History of Magic, classes like Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and even Herbology were far more practically important.
But now Sterling's sparkling eyes revealed his incomparable interest in the subject of the History of Magic specifically.
Of course Sterling loved History of Magic. The history of the magical world might appear to Muggles as mere legends, epic poems, or fairy tales... Besides, Sterling remained deeply interested in searching for traces of the dream world within documented magical history.
There was absolutely no logical reason why he could only observe elements of the waking world while in the dream world, while the waking world contained only one suspected cross-dimensional traveller, like the mysterious Beedle the Bard.
But what Sterling found most fascinating was the History of Magic professor himself. His soon-to-be favourite Professor Binns...
Hogwarts' only ghostly professor, and the ghost Sterling could most easily observe and study.
He hadn't forgotten how ghosts appeared in his enhanced magical vision. Countless threads filled every inch of their ethereal bodies.
Sterling had already seen Nearly Headless Nick from Gryffindor. He could clearly observe many thin connecting lines between the ghost's neck and head, which explained why his head couldn't fall off completely.
One class period provided quite substantial time. Sterling planned to keep watching Professor Binns continuously throughout the entire lesson.
His magical vision had already brought him Origin Magic and recognition from the dream world. Sterling believed that once he fully understood what this ability truly represented, he would gain even more extraordinary power...
Sterling suddenly frowned with realisation. Was this developing greed?
Never mind that concern. Beneficial greed promotes genuine human progress.
Since Sterling was genuinely eager to reach the classroom, Hermione quickly finished the last strip of bacon remaining on her plate, waved farewell to Neville, who was still drinking milk and eating bread at the Gryffindor table, and headed toward the History of Magic classroom.
They were among the very first students to arrive. Professor Binns' relaxed teaching attitude was universally well-known. According to an unnamed senior, as long as you didn't actively attract his attention, he wouldn't care whether you ran away halfway through class or joined the lesson midway.
Actually, Professor Binns simply didn't remember who was who among his students.
They found seats toward the front of the classroom, with Hermione flipping through her Charms textbook while Sterling pulled out an advanced Transfiguration textbook that had been highly recommended by the Ravenclaw common room library.
With dragon transformation dangling tantalisingly as his ultimate goal, Sterling's enthusiasm for mastering Transfiguration was reaching unprecedented heights.
The young wizards seemed to have made an unspoken appointment. They all arrived during the few minutes immediately before class began. After the warning bell rang once, Professor Binns drifted ethereally through the solid wall from the adjacent room.
Sterling, who had been waiting with obvious eagerness, immediately rubbed his eyes and activated his magical vision, staring intently at Professor Binns with such focus that it made the ancient ghost somewhat uncomfortable.
But having served as a teacher for several centuries, Professor Binns had encountered all conceivable types of students. Simple staring wasn't particularly unusual. A century ago, one particularly bold Gryffindor had spent five full minutes repeatedly passing through his ghostly body.
Of course, that student hadn't ended well. Hogwarts used to implement corporal punishment in those days.
Professor Binns paused briefly, then began lecturing in his characteristically flat, monotonous tone. His voice truly possessed some magical quality that made everyone drowsy... except for Sterling.
In his enhanced vision, the countless threads composing Professor Binns were gradually thickening. The process occurred very slowly, with absolutely minuscule increases. If his magical vision hadn't been greatly enhanced in observational ability after awakening his Origin Magic, he wouldn't have noticed such subtle changes.
This scene reminded him vividly of that memorable night at the start of term in the Great Hall. The brilliant pillar of light that had emerged above Harry Potter's head and the golden threads that had subsequently fallen onto everyone present.
Their magical threads had increased in number and intensity.
Professor Binns' threads were steadily thickening.
What was the crucial difference? What represented the underlying commonality?
Sterling carefully recalled everything that had happened that extraordinary night. First, of course, was the source of all anomalies: Harry Potter himself.
His magical thread not only glowed with unusual brilliance but was considerably thicker than ordinary people's threads... it could even generate a massive pillar to distribute power to others. If there was anything most unique about this particular person, it was probably his legendary identity.
"The Saviour".
Wizards cast magic through focused will, and will combined with raw magical power created the miracle called magic. So, would the universally recognised "Saviour" count as wizards' collective will made manifest?
Harry Potter undoubtedly possessed his own magical abilities.
So, was it possible that he represented a living miracle named "The Saviour"?
Sterling felt he needed to intensify his careful observations of Harry significantly.
Once Mourning the Demon Dragon improved substantially, supposedly affecting his physical development to provide more energy, he planned to use The Witness of the Author to check on Harry every single morning upon waking.
He had discovered that simply writing the name of someone who actually existed would show what that person was currently doing in the book, like he had done with Neville on Sorting Night. This consumed relatively little energy.
But if he wrote an original passage from scratch without existing names to modify, like his experimental chair-breaking incident, it consumed dramatically more energy.
Wait... Harry was a Gryffindor.
Sterling wasn't typically one for House stereotypes... well, actually, he was. No one could honestly deny that when Ravenclaws woke up early, Gryffindors were usually still sleeping soundly.
If he really checked first thing every morning, the result would probably just read, "Harry Potter is sleeping peacefully."
Sterling decided to leave this problem to his developing intuition.
Vivian had mentioned that all truly great wizards possessed terrifyingly accurate intuitive abilities. He was probably destined to become a great wizard himself, so he should learn to trust his intuition completely.
He would check whenever the thought naturally occurred to him.
Having satisfied his immediate curiosity, Sterling stopped forcing himself to remain alert and allowed himself to drift into peaceful sleep to Professor Binns' hypnotic lullaby.