Professor Snape stood expressionlessly beside Matthew's group, watching his work closely.
Once the cauldron began releasing red steam, Matthew skillfully extinguished the flame and filtered out the residue.
Finally, he poured the purified liquid into a new container.
After Matthew completed all the steps, Snape picked up the container holding the Fire Salamander horn extract and examined it carefully.
"First to finish. Five points to Slytherin."
Snape had once again found an opportunity to award points.
Setting the container down, he returned to the front of the classroom.
"Ten minutes remaining. Those who fail to complete the extraction will copy the entire process one hundred times."
The students hurried to speed up their work, but the faster they moved, the more mistakes they made. Snape's expression darkened visibly.
Ten minutes later, Snape dismissed the class. Those who had finished just in time sighed in relief.
Those who failed looked utterly defeated. Being forced to copy the process one hundred times on the very first day of term left them as wilted as frostbitten plants.
...
After helping Snape tidy the classroom, Matthew spoke:
"Professor, I've recently been studying Ancient Runes. I'd like to consult Salazar Slytherin's manuscripts. May I have your signed permission?"
Snape glanced at Matthew and said slowly,
"Do not waste your talent. Spreading your focus too thin in the early stages is not wise."
Matthew explained,
"My grandfather is Alphard Black, a researcher of Ancient Runes. I've developed an interest in the subject."
Snape said nothing further. He simply wrote a permission slip and handed it to Matthew.
Leaving the classroom, Matthew headed straight to the Great Hall. Potions had been the last class of the day, and it was now dinner time.
He spotted his roommates, who had saved him a seat.
As Matthew sat down, he heard them still discussing Potions class.
Jerry spoke,
"Professor Snape seemed in a terrible mood today. His expression looked even scarier than usual."
Geralt took a sip of black tea.
"I just heard from Pansy that during first-year Potions, Harry Potter lost two points from Snape."
Jerry looked shocked.
"You don't usually lose points just for failing to answer questions… even if he's from Gryffindor."
Geralt shrugged irresponsibly.
"Who knows? Maybe Professor Snape just doesn't like Harry Potter."
Matthew glanced toward the Gryffindor table.
To his surprise, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione were already sitting together. In just one day, they had become quite familiar.
Harry looked somewhat dejected. Gryffindor had already lost points in the first week of school because of him.
The other three were trying to comfort him.
The Golden Trio… plus Neville, Matthew thought inwardly.
After sitting down, Matthew turned to Jerry.
"Let me copy today's Charms homework."
He couldn't be bothered to write it himself. His progress was far ahead, and the assignments held little value for him.
Jerry rolled his eyes.
"The top student in the year is copying my homework?"
Geralt grinned.
"I'm copying too. That means, by rounding up, I'm tied for first place with Matthew."
...
Halfway through dinner, a brown owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a letter in front of Matthew.
He caught the letter and fed the owl a chicken leg.
It was from Luna.
In the letter, Luna asked how his first day of school had gone. She mentioned that the mistletoe outside her house had sprouted. She also wrote about how many mealworms the little Thunderbird had eaten that day.
Matthew wrote a reply.
He told Luna about chatting with his roommates late into the night after the welcome banquet, mentioned Snape's unusual behavior today, and described meeting two new friends on the Hogwarts Express.
"See you, Bobo."
Matthew handed the reply to the owl, which grabbed the letter and flew away.
Geralt immediately spoke in a teasing tone,
"You and your neighbor sure are close. Ever since coming to Hogwarts, you receive letters from her every week. What a good neighbor… Hey! Why are you taking mine? Leave me one chicken wing!"
Matthew glanced at him.
"I thought you were full."
After dinner, Matthew headed to the library.
Having a professor's permission slip didn't mean he could browse freely in the Restricted Section. Typically, the slip specified exactly which materials could be consulted.
After handing Snape's permission slip to Madam Pince, she led Matthew into the Restricted Section.
The books here were arranged by danger level, and further categorized within each tier.
Soon, Madam Pince located the manuscript Matthew requested and handed him a hardcover volume.
The title read:
[Secrets of Slytherin: Collected Ancient Rune Manuscripts.]
Clearly, this was a later edited compilation.
"Thank you," Matthew said.
He took the book and found a seat in the public reading area.
Slytherin's writings contained very little description of meditation, and no specific meditation method.
After reading for a while, Matthew found a passage in the chapter titled [Etymological Origins of Runic Sounds.]
There, he found the sentence:
"Meditation is the key to runes."
The book explained that while tracing the origins of runic phonetics, Slytherin discovered that the earliest documents referencing runes dated back to the 7th century.
At the end of the chapter, there was a recorded conversation between Slytherin and a student:
[I asked Merlin how runes could be integrated into magic.]
[Merlin answered me, 'Meditation is the key to runes.'"]
Interestingly, Merlin, one of the most famous figures in the wizarding world, had been among Hogwarts' earliest students—and one of Slytherin House's first students.
He lived between the 10th and 12th centuries, achieved great accomplishments, founded the Order of Merlin, and established laws forbidding magic against Muggles.
The common wizarding phrase "Merlin's beard" referred to this very Merlin.
According to general wizarding consensus, he was not the same Merlin as the one from the Muggle legend of King Arthur—they merely shared the same name.
The earliest literary record of the Arthurian legend appeared around 600 AD in Welsh bardic poetry. Historians believed the original Merlin of Arthurian legend likely lived in the 5th century.
The two Merlins were separated by nearly six to seven centuries.
"So… that line was spoken by Merlin?"
Matthew found himself with more questions than answers.
According to Hogwarts history, Merlin grew rapidly after enrolling at Hogwarts. Later, he and Slytherin shared both teacher-student and peer-like relationships.
After Merlin graduated, their views on Muggles diverged, leading to increasing disagreements—and eventually, they parted ways.
At that moment, Madam Pince knocked on the reading room door.
"The library is closing."
Matthew closed the book. Curfew at Hogwarts came fairly early, so he prepared to return to the common room.