History of Magic.
Professor Binns's soporific voice continued droning on from the front of the classroom.
More than half the students had already collapsed onto their desks, while a small group of Ravenclaws were still struggling to stay awake.
Judging from the way their heads kept nodding, however, they probably would not last much longer.
This time, Tom had chosen a seat at the very back of the classroom. For the first time, he was not forcing himself through the discomfort to take notes.
That was because he was not listening to the lesson at all. Instead, he was frowning at the blank elective form lying in front of him.
"Or maybe Professor McGonagall handed out an extra one, so Wade has actually already chosen his electives. Then... what classes did Wade choose again...?"
The moment Tom's thoughts reached that point, his mind suddenly went hazy. His eyes quickly became confused again.
"What am I doing? I should be listening to the lesson... Hmm? A blank elective form? Right! I was just wondering why Wade hadn't chosen... Hmm? What? What was I doing?"
Tom once again felt that strange sensation of having forgotten something. Immediately afterward, a powerful wave of drowsiness washed over him.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he immediately activated the Occlumency he had only half mastered.
Although his Occlumency was still rudimentary, it proved surprisingly effective in this situation.
Before long, Tom felt his mind become completely clear.
"I understand... As long as I think of Wade Reynolds's name..."
Tom immediately activated Occlumency again.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, surprise flickering within them.
"Whenever I think about that person, or anything related to him, I get that strange feeling of losing my memories!"
Maintaining Occlumency, Tom fabricated a short section of false memories. This was one of the basic techniques of Occlumency.
Within those memories, he began thinking about Wade.
Then, to his astonishment, the fabricated memories visibly began to change before his eyes.
Tom's eyes lit up. Before the memories could change completely, he quickly grabbed his notebook, flipped it open, and wrote on a blank page:
[Wade]
Then he immediately crossed it out.
Only after the black ink had completely obscured the word did Tom write another line beside it.
[Friend W]
Tom stared at the words and activated Occlumency once more, implanting a suggestion into his own mind.
From now on, whenever he thought of the name [Wade Reynolds], he would automatically replace it with [Friend W].
It was not easy, but for a student like Tom, it was not entirely impossible either.
Ten minutes later, Tom closed his eyes, drenched in sweat.
For the time being, he had completely forgotten the name [Wade Reynolds].
"All right... I have a friend called [Friend W]."
Tom cautiously tested the thought.
To his delight, that strange sensation of missing memories did not appear again.
Then Tom gradually relaxed his Occlumency and began thinking about matters related to [Friend W].
The next second...
Clatter!
Tom shot to his feet.
He stood up so abruptly that his desk and chair scraped noisily across the floor.
The sudden commotion even made Professor Binns stop speaking and look toward Tom, who had abruptly risen from his seat.
The students who had already fallen asleep, as well as those who were still drowsily fighting it, were jolted awake.
Everyone stared in surprise at Tom, who had suddenly stood up.
"Mr. Riel, what is it?" Professor Binns asked in the same soporific voice.
No one paid any attention to the fact that Professor Binns had gotten Tom's name wrong. Everyone at Hogwarts was already used to him calling students by the wrong names.
What they were curious about was why Tom, who was usually so calm and composed, was acting like this today.
"Uh..." Tom looked around before saying apologetically, "Sorry. I just dreamed that I was knocked flying by a Graphorn..."
"Oh..."
Everyone immediately understood and did not find it strange at all.
If this had happened in any other class, almost no one would have believed Tom. Everyone knew how hardworking he was.
But this was History of Magic.
It was the kind of class that could make even Hogwarts's most gifted student, Wade Reynolds, fall asleep and practically drool on his desk.
For Tom to end up like this was perfectly normal.
"Mr. Riel, this is a classroom, not a place for you to sleep..." Professor Binns said unhappily.
Everyone's expressions turned strange.
There had just been an entire crowd of students asleep on their desks.
"Sorry, Professor..."
Tom apologized, and Professor Binns said nothing more, merely allowing him to sit back down.
Once the little interruption passed, Professor Binns's hypnotic voice began droning on again. It was almost as if someone had cast the Stunning Spell across the classroom, and soon students were dropping one after another.
Tom sat in his chair and slowly closed his notebook.
Rustle.
The blank elective form crumpled in his hand. At the same time, the strange haze that had clouded his mind whenever he thought of Wade Reynolds's name seemed to be gradually fading.
"Shit... What the hell is going on? Could it be some strange magic of his? But no matter how powerful his illusion magic is, how could he make someone quietly disappear for so long without anyone noticing?"
Buzz!
Tom suddenly felt as though something had exploded inside his head.
The next moment, he collapsed onto his desk and lost consciousness.
It was quite a while before he slowly came to.
"Ugh... What happened to me?" Tom muttered, vigorously rubbing his head.
History of Magic was still in progress.
Tom frowned and tried to remember. He seemed to have been thinking about some question just now.
But no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember what it had been.
"Ugh... What's going on? Did that bastard Wade attack me again?"
Tom looked around the classroom, but after scanning the room, he could not find Wade anywhere.
"Wait. Where did Wade go?"
...
"Achoo!"
Wade raised his head and rubbed his nose.
"Strange. There are clearly windproof charms around the flying carpet, so why do I suddenly feel a little cold?"
"Heh. Maybe you've done too few good deeds and someone's cursing you behind your back?" Slytherin said lazily.
He was sitting comfortably at the edge of the flying carpet with both legs dangling over the side. In one hand, he held a semi-transparent loaf of bread.
Wade had enlarged the flying carpet until standing on it felt like standing on a huge floating platform, so he had even set up a table and chairs on top.
"Uh... ghosts can eat?" Wade asked curiously, staring at the bread in Slytherin's hand.
"It's fake. It's lunchtime, so holding a piece of bread makes it feel a little more ceremonial."
Seeing Wade's curious look, Slytherin explained, "Ghosts can conjure all sorts of illusory objects. They're merely projections of things they remember from when they were alive. The same goes for the clothes I'm wearing and the cane in my hand..."
Slytherin casually tossed the bread over the edge. The illusory loaf immediately dissolved into bubbles and vanished into the air.
"Ah... I still miss the food Helga used to make with her own hands." Slytherin sighed. "Unfortunately, times have changed, and those old friends are long gone. Though in my current state, even if she were still here, I probably wouldn't be able to eat anything she made anyway..."
Hearing this, Wade remembered how ghosts would put out piles of foul-smelling food during their gatherings. Only by passing their bodies through food that had gone rancid enough could they catch the faintest trace of its taste, almost as if they had actually eaten something.
"Taste?"
Wade rubbed his chin. Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him.
He immediately returned to his desk, pulled out his notebook, and began scribbling rapidly.
Slytherin turned his head and saw Wade busy himself again, so he did not say anything more.
The second map they had received contained far fewer marked locations than the first.
Because of that, there was no need for them to rush as quickly as they had before.
Slytherin controlled the direction of the flying carpet while trying to avoid Muggle aeroplanes, radar, and anything else that might detect them.
Wade, meanwhile, stayed toward the back of the carpet, spending nearly every day buried in one strange research project after another.
Slytherin had also learned about Wade's ambitions. He could only say that Wade truly was worthy of being a student of his house.
That was why he could not quite understand why Wade did not put more effort into winning people over, spreading his ideas, and strengthening himself, instead devoting nearly all his attention to research.
After all, although Slytherin himself had also enjoyed research back then, most of his studies had been conducted on the premise that they could increase his strength.
Wade's research, however, covered far too many fields. Some of it could indeed make him stronger, but much of it seemed completely pointless.
It was as though Wade researched these things simply to satisfy his own curiosity.
He seemed curious about everything in the world.
That was Slytherin's conclusion after observing Wade's research.
When night fell, Slytherin simply had the flying carpet stop above the clouds.
There were no Muggle flight routes in this area, so they were unlikely to encounter any aeroplanes.
Even so, to be safe, Slytherin still cast the necessary protective spells around the flying carpet.
"Shouldn't you eat something?" Slytherin finally asked, looking at Wade, who was still busy working.
"Almost done... I should still make it in time." Wade glanced at a small box on the table. Slytherin had no idea when it had appeared.
"Make it in time for what?" Slytherin asked in confusion. "You haven't eaten all day, have you? Honestly, young people don't know how to appreciate what they have. I want to eat but can't, while you can eat and simply choose not to."
"It should be about ready."
Wade took a handful of long, thin sticks from the box.
"What is that?" Slytherin asked with a frown.
"Incense. Muggles use it when praying to gods or making offerings to ancestors. I thought I'd let you try it and see whether it works."
As he spoke, Wade cheerfully lit the handful of incense.
"What?" Slytherin stared at him in utter confusion.
"In other words, people burn this for ghosts. I don't know whether it'll work for you, but I happened to remember how to make it, so I made some for you to try. It's actually quite troublesome for Muggles to produce. It usually needs at least a week to dry, but we're wizards, so we don't need that long..."
As Wade explained, he Transfigured a cup into an incense burner and placed it on the flying carpet in front of Slytherin. Then, holding the incense, he solemnly bowed toward Slytherin a few times before sticking it into the burner.
Slytherin frowned.
"What a complete waste of time. How could something invented by Muggles possibly have any effect on ghosts..."
Just then, a wisp of pale smoke drifted through Slytherin's body.
"Hm? Wait, that's not right!"
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69