Chapter 15: The Difference in Academic Ability
Chapter 15: The Difference in Academic Ability
As the new students gradually grew accustomed to the ever-changing staircases of Hogwarts, Voldemort settled into a routine within the castle.
The first-year students had a relaxed class schedule, with as few as one class a day and no more than three. The rest of the time was theirs to manage. Seeing this arrangement, Voldemort had once strongly suspected—why were those students who constantly complained about professors assigning too much work unable to complete a mere few-inch essay on time?
When Voldemort was not yet ten years old in his previous life, he had to write essays of at least three hundred Chinese characters, a language known for its "compressed wording." If he were to write in English, he could easily expand it to a thousand words. And after systematic honing through high school, university, and graduate studies, producing a ten-thousand-word essay within two days was well within his capabilities.
It was only after studying with Michael, Hermione, and the others for some time that Voldemort understood the reason behind their struggles.
Among the first-year students, aside from Voldemort, Hermione found it easiest to complete essays. At the very least, she didn't make basic grammatical errors, rarely stumbled upon words she couldn't spell, and could quickly identify and articulate the key points from their lessons.
The other three students, including Michael from Ravenclaw, found these tasks challenging.
This was because they all came from wizarding families.
The lives of wizards and Muggles were almost entirely segregated—even if one parent was Muggle-born. Most wizarding families lived in isolation, not only avoiding proactive contact with Muggles but also casting "Muggle-Repelling Charms" near their residences to prevent accidental intrusions into their lives. As a result, wizards were ignorant of Muggle fashion, technology, and education. The idea of sending their underage children to Muggle schools was akin to humans sending their children to be educated by monkeys living in trees, in their eyes.
In Britain, there was only one wizarding school, Hogwarts, with no equivalent of "magic primary schools" or "magic universities." In the wizarding world, children below the age of eleven typically received a home education—if parents had the time, they would teach their children how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic. However, in the case of neglectful parents, their children might not even be able to spell "quill pen" correctly.
Michael and his peers usually started their education around the age of five or six, so they had no significant issues with reading and writing. Nonetheless, being able to read and write did not equate to academic prowess, and the wizarding home education lacked many aspects of the structured Muggle schooling. For instance, wizarding parents, when teaching their children how to read, didn't intentionally cultivate their logical reasoning or summarization skills—Voldemort suspected that many wizards might not even have these concepts in their lexicon, as they tended to dismiss Muggle theories with disdain.
Moreover, young wizards like Hermione often lacked the ability to quickly extract and comprehend key information from texts. For example, they could grasp the concept that "if objects A and B are at the same temperature, and B and C are at the same temperature, then A and C are also at the same temperature." However, their textbook stated, "If each of two systems of bodies is in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other. That is, if, when the systems are in communication, they give no rise to any change of physical properties; they will still remain in mutual equilibrium when the communication is cut off."
The young wizards were left perplexed by the string of letters that smoothly slid through their brains without leaving a trace.
Hermione, with her remarkable memory, could mechanically memorize everything and then slowly decipher it by comparing it with other materials. However, most of the young wizards could only scribble down a bunch of notes that even they themselves couldn't comprehend, scratching their heads in confusion as they scrambled to hand in their assignments, hoping for the professors to be merciful and grant them a passing grade.
Moreover, the eleven-year-old students were away from their parents, boarding at the school, and the professors' discipline wasn't strict. Even the notoriously stern Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape wouldn't bother with students who had no classes, whether they were sleeping in late in the dormitories or playing games in the common room. Such a relaxed environment was a significant test of self-discipline for minors. Slacking off and playing were part of human nature, but studying wasn't; learning was only genuinely interesting to a very small minority.
Take Hermione, for example.
Or, for that matter, Voldemort.
In just half a month, the two of them stood out from the first-year newcomers. The difference lay in the fact that Hermione was strict with herself and others, resolutely refusing any cheating or rule-breaking; Voldemort, on the other hand, didn't mind others copying his homework. While he buried himself in practice rooms, diligently studying and repeatedly practicing spells, he never forced others to work hard with him.
Voldemort was well aware of the laziness that came with being a teenager; in his previous life, he had been like that too. In this life, he tried harder than anyone else, not because he loved studying, but because he loved magic—to him, magic wasn't an innate, taken-for-granted ability, so he cherished this opportunity more than anyone else at school.
Once again, Voldemort practiced until the curfew approached, and he hurried back to the Ravenclaw tower. At this time, the corridors outside were quiet, as if everyone was asleep. But as soon as he entered the common room, he felt that it was still too early.
Hogwarts had a curfew but no lights-out time; if students wished, they could stay up all night in the brightly lit common room. At this moment, there were many students of various grades in the Ravenclaw common room—there were couples in love, whispering sweet nothings on a sofa in the corner; there were bored young wizards playing wizard chess on the round tea tables; and there were older students frantically scribbling away at their assignments.
Despite the number of people, it wasn't noisy; the Ravenclaws consciously lowered their voices when talking.
There were seven or eight people gathered on the sofa in front of the fireplace, with occasional bursts of giggling from the girls. Voldemort glanced at them and then found himself a secluded corner to sit down and read while taking notes.
Michael, who was among the crowd, smiled at the girl next to him and said a few words before walking over to Voldemort and sitting down beside him.
"Studying this late again?" Michael leaned against the table and said, "Voldemort, it's been less than a month since we started school, and you're almost done with the first-year curriculum. What are you going to do with the rest of your time? I'm not saying this to be mean, but you're overdoing it a bit. Sometimes you should relax, brother. You know, there are quite a few girls who want to get to know you."
He raised his eyebrows at the group by the fireplace, causing the girls to giggle again.
Voldemort paused with his quill and looked at Michael with his gray eyes, asking, "I don't know. But, Michael—do you know how long we'll be able to stay at Hogwarts?"
(End of Chapter)
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