"The content of the first Ancient Runes class?"
Early the next morning, at the hall's dining table, Cedric thought for a moment before saying, "I remember it being quite difficult... No, it should be said that the hardest class of the entire school year was the first one."
"Professor Babbling wouldn't have talked about the applications of magical text in alchemy, would she..." Cho asked with a strange expression, "And those different ways of writing that represent different meanings."
But to her surprise, Cedric immediately shook his head and said, "No... That's something you learn in fifth year, there's no way they'd teach that in third year."
"Then you guys..."
"Professor Babbling talked to us about the evolution process of magical text... and what they originally looked like."
Cedric had a very pained expression, "You have no idea how complicated those magical texts were before they were simplified... Honestly, it was the first time I felt like I didn't remember anything from a class."
"True," Fred and George nodded in agreement.
"It was an absolute nightmare."
"At the time, I felt like a stunted troll..."
Cho gave the three a knowing glance, as she had recently gone through the same experience.
Then, Kael suddenly asked, "How many people chose that class back then?"
"About a dozen, I don't remember the exact number."
Cedric thought for a bit, "But that's not important, because Professor Babbling said if we didn't want to take Ancient Runes, we could switch classes.
So by the second week, there were only nine people left in the classroom."
"Almost just seven,"
Fred said, "We wavered when we reached Professor McGonagall's office..."
"For the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in the future, we decided to attend one more class," George said with a smile.
"Good thing we thought that way..."
"Because the content of the second class was normal, still difficult... but at least we could understand it."
"You guys didn't do the same, did you?" Cedric asked.
"Except for the content being different, everything else was pretty much the same, including the option to switch classes," Cho sighed and said, "But I don't understand why Professor Babbling would do that."
"I don't know..." Fred thought for a moment, "Although some people say that Professor Babbling wants people from grades three to seven to take the class together, deliberately reducing the number of students per grade, but that seems unlikely."
"Everyone's learning content is different, there's no way to teach it all together," George said, "Percy's reading 'Advanced Magical Rune Translation,' while we're still on 'Ancient Magical Language Introduction.'"
"Maybe the first class is just Professor Babbling's test."
Cedric said, "Learning magical texts is bound to be a tedious and complicated process, you need enough patience to stick with it.
Maybe she's trying to weed out those who aren't suited for it, so they don't waste their time."
"Of course, that's just my guess."
Cedric took a sip of pumpkin juice and continued, "We know very little about Professor Babbling, after all, besides classes and various holiday feasts, she hardly ever shows herself, she didn't even attend Quidditch matches."
For a while after, the group discussed how difficult magical text was, but also how interesting it became once you learned it...
Kael listened nearby, trying to act as much like them as possible, rather than seeming too smug.
This was when having a "tutor" by your side showed its benefits. Riddle was patient, capable, and had a very comprehensive understanding of magical text.
With his help, Kael avoided many pitfalls and learned very efficiently.
Earlier, it didn't feel like anything special, but now, when compared, it was different... The problems Cedric and the others encountered seemed incredibly easy to Kael.
In other words, Riddle's Diary was Voldemort's study notes from back in the day.
However, this diary had recently become unreliable; not only did he need to scrutinize it carefully when using it, but a few days ago, it just stopped working. Who knows when it will recover?
Thinking of this, Kael quickly finished his breakfast, went to the Room of Requirement as usual, greeted Riddle in the box, and inquired about his situation.
He'd been doing this for the past few days, but Riddle never responded.
Kael didn't really expect much today either, planning to close the diary after writing a sentence out of habit.
But surprisingly, Riddle didn't continue to play dead and quickly responded to him.
[I'm sorry... the day you showed me the newspaper, it seemed like the diary's magic suddenly ran out.]
Kael was somewhat surprised and picked up his quill.
"Are you okay, Tom, I'm really worried about you."
[Kind of, it's fortunate you've been writing to me with dragon blood recently.]
[What are we learning today? After being idle for so long, I'm quite eager to get started.]
Neither Kael's made-up stories nor the news of Voldemort's demise by a baby seemed to have any impact on Riddle.
He didn't even ask about anything else.
It was as if Voldemort was just an irrelevant passerby, whether he lived or died was insignificant.
But since Riddle said so, Kael couldn't let his goodwill go to waste.
"Then let's continue learning magical text."
[I knew it, you really like magical text.]
...
However, this time they didn't study for very long.
Because there was a class later, and by 8:50, Kael had to leave.
[Time always flies by so fast.]
Before closing the diary, Riddle made another request.
[If possible, could you bring some animals next time?]
"Animals?" Kael frowned slightly and wrote, "Do you need to eat? I can get something cooked directly from the kitchen."
[No, I don't need to eat. I just like Fantastic Beasts, I did even back in school, so I'd like to see them again.]
[It doesn't have to be anything rare, fairies or a Bowtruckle will do, they're easy to find near the Forbidden Forest.]
Kael hesitated for a moment, "But Tom, can you see them?"
[Of course, if you just place them on the diary, I'll be able to see them.]
"Then... alright, I'll go check near the Forbidden Forest over the weekend."
Kael casually agreed and then quickly left the Room of Requirement.
Riddle's desire for animals surely had nothing to do with a liking for them, but Kael didn't have time to guess what he was thinking.
It's five minutes till the first Transfiguration class, and if he's late... well, an angry Professor McGonagall is scarier than Voldemort.