When Professor Quirrell entered the classroom with his persistent garlic stench, both Hermione and Terry were extremely grateful for Sterling's unusual decision to have them sit in the back rows.
Just looking at the miserable state of students in the front rows made Padma break into a cold sweat. If Hermione hadn't insisted on pulling her to the back when she sat down, she would be the one with a flushed face now. Worse still, once you got the garlic smell on you, it wasn't easy to get rid of!
The few Ravenclaws in the front rows realised this too, and their originally flushed faces instantly turned pale.
Even though Ravenclaws single-mindedly pursued knowledge, no girl wanted to leave a disgusting smell wherever she went... and Madam Pince would never let someone smelly into the library!
"Sterling, do you think 'Scourgify' can solve the smell problem?" Hermione whispered, with Padma also perking up her ears hopefully.
Though they were in the back rows now, as the class progressed, their future of being soaked in garlic smell was entirely foreseeable. For the sake of their image, they had to do something.
Sterling thought about it carefully. Theoretically, as long as you included smell in the scope of filth while holding cleaning intentions, it should work. This seemed obvious, but Quirrell's behaviour made him somewhat doubtful...
If Scourgify could eliminate smells, why didn't he remove the stench? From the prophecy, he should currently be in the "disguising as a good person" phase, right? What spy would create such an obvious identifying mark for himself?
"Do you think Professor Quirrell, as a professor, wouldn't know how to use cleaning charms?"
Sterling's single sentence broke the hearts of the two clean-loving little witches. Terry, coming from a wizarding family, proposed a potential solution.
"The Bubble-Head Charm. I heard my dad mention it. This spell can isolate smells, liquids, and such things..."
"Excellent! Terry, cast one on us quickly!" Padma's downturned mouth corners immediately perked up with hope.
But Terry spread his hands helplessly: "That's fifth-year content, and it's considered difficult even for fifth-years."
"Then why are you mentioning it now?" Padma's mouth corners drooped again dramatically. Sterling felt Padma's facial muscles must be very well developed. He couldn't switch expressions so quickly.
Quirrell was now stammering through his lesson on the podium. No, Sterling couldn't acknowledge this as a proper class. Quirrell couldn't even read from the textbook properly. Some words that rolled around in his mouth came out sounding like English, Hindi, or Latin. Sterling couldn't tell which.
Terry made an even more horrifying discovery. He had done preparatory work before class and tried to listen to Quirrell's teaching to see if he was a good teacher hampered by stuttering... But the magical theory he'd understood while studying had become completely incomprehensible after Quirrell's tireless instruction.
"I never knew professors had the ability to take knowledge back out of my head. Isn't knowledge supposed never to betray you?" Terry covered his head in despair. Seeing this, Hermione quickly gave up on listening to the lesson.
If it was just poor teaching, out of respect for the teacher, Hermione would still listen attentively.
But you can make someone who already understands not understand?! This was no ordinary professor. It was time to block out the noise completely.
No Ravenclaw could tolerate their knowledge no longer belonging to them.
"This is absolutely outrageous, Terry. I think we should unite and write to Headmaster Dumbledore to have Professor Quirrell fired. With this kind of professor here, our future OWLs and NEWTs will be completely ruined!"
Hermione hit it off with the furious Terry. Terry discovered he could no longer understand that theory. Quirrell's teaching was like a fog shrouding his mind. If he were a Gryffindor, he would have thrown his shoe at Quirrell's head already.
Watching the three of them heatedly discuss what format the complaint letter should use and whether they should use harsh language, Sterling was somewhat surprised by Hermione's transformation.
When he first met Hermione on the train, he thought she would be an ultimate good student who strictly followed school rules. He didn't expect her to be so quickly corrected by Ravenclaw's prevailing atmosphere into a little eagle who could ignore many rules for the sake of knowledge.
"No, we can't send the headmaster a Howler. Calm down, Terry. Headmaster Dumbledore hasn't done anything wrong... well, letting Professor Quirrell join Hogwarts staff was a mistake, so we need to correct this mistake. But definitely not in the form of a Howler! Think about our House points! Prefect Robert will empty the knowledge in your head like House points in an hourglass!"
"Brilliant idea! Obliviate! Why didn't I think of that?"
Terry immediately left the discussion and began thinking about how to get Prefect Robert to help him forget Quirrell's lesson content.
Professor Quirrell was like a robot that only operated according to fixed programmes. While Hermione and Padma were collecting signatures in the back row for a joint petition, he remained oblivious, continuing to stammer through his lesson.
Neville and his roommate Seamus sat in the middle, already marinated in the garlic smell.
Because Harry sat right next to them, Quirrell would often stop mid-lecture, walk down from the podium, stand by Harry's desk for a while, then return. Sterling had been observing him since he entered the classroom. In less than one class period, Quirrell had spent more than half the class time looking at Harry.
What Sterling found most incredible was that Harry hadn't noticed Quirrell staring at him at all.
What kind of vigilance was this? Was this the quality of the Saviour?
Suddenly, an inspiration flashed through Sterling's mind. Yes, Harry was the Saviour, so who would keep staring at the Saviour? Since Quirrell was controlled by evil forces, which evil faction would care so much about Harry?
So hard to guess. Could it be some second-generation Dark Lord defeated by a baby?
Sterling reached his conclusion: Quirrell was most likely controlled by You-Know-Who's remnants, and his purpose in infiltrating Hogwarts might be to deal with Harry, to avenge his dead boss?
It felt... quite boring.
Sterling had hoped for some interesting development, like Quirrell wanting to complete some mysterious ritual to make Hogwarts explode! England sinks! The European continent ascends! Such a story would be very novel and interesting. If that were really the case, Sterling would use "The Witness of the Author" to monitor him 24/7 and blow him up the moment he showed signs of action.
Liking to watch stories was one thing, but Sterling wouldn't involve others for his own selfish desires.
If Quirrell only had some conspiracy targeting him, Sterling would play along. Of course, 24-hour surveillance couldn't be dropped. Since Sterling knew the prophecy, every time he went to the bathroom today, he would check on Quirrell.
Fortunately, just looking without modifying reality wouldn't consume energy.
Soon, the class bell rang. Hermione collected the signatures she'd gathered from back-row students, while Padma went to get signatures from the front-row Gryffindors. In the end, they didn't have the audacity to pass notes right under Quirrell's nose to the front rows during class asking for signatures to petition for his removal.
Sterling had naturally signed his name early on. If this letter actually worked, he wouldn't need to reveal his prophet identity to get Headmaster Dumbledore to fire Quirrell.
Quirrell, who slipped away as soon as class ended, had no idea what was about to befall him.
Hermione had talked Terry out of sending Headmaster Dumbledore a Howler but really couldn't dissuade him from sending Quirrell one. Sterling just advised him to remember to pinch his voice and disguise it when recording the Howler.