The bell rang, and students filed out with longing expressions on their faces.

"I've decided!" Ron announced loudly as he walked towards the Potions classroom, "I'm going to make a complete set of wizard chess pieces." The faces of the people around him were full of astonishment.

But Harry and Hermione were not interested in this. "Have you finished your Transfiguration paper? Lend it to me." Harry said.

Ron's momentum immediately shrank back.

"Not yet," his expression fell, "I just wrote the beginning - I don't understand half of it now."

"Professor McGonagall will explain this knowledge repeatedly, and I don't understand a lot of things." Hermione said some encouraging words: "When you master the Animagus, it will be much better to understand it in combination with the textbook, right, Harry?"

Harry muttered vaguely. Since learning the Animagus Transfiguration, he did feel some differences, but this "difference" did not include those advanced Transfiguration theories mentioned by Professor McGonagall. He was still as confused as before in class.

He knew Hermione's method, but when he thought of the huge books she had been rotating at hand these days, he was discouraged.

Ron seemed very frustrated. He had not been able to feel the throbbing of Animagus these days, and recently he had been asking Harry and Neville about that feeling.

"Did your heart beat faster and your head sweat suddenly?"

"Are you sure it's not a psychological effect?" Harry asked back, so Ron stopped talking.

...

In the Potions class, Slughorn stared at Harry's cauldron in a daze.

In the crucible was a mass of gray-green soft and sticky things, which looked like boiled and solidified slugs and vegetable juice jelly. If you get close, you can feel a hint of coldness. This is Harry's work today, it's simply terrible.

Hermione opened her eyes happily, as if she was about to open her throat to sing in the next second.

"Oh... well, kid, that won't do," Slughorn said absentmindedly, fiddling with the buttons on his vest. "It's a little off. You need to brush up on your potion theory..."

He didn't say anything more, but walked in front of Ron, stayed there for only two seconds, and was forced back by the pungent smoke.

"There's no hint in that book, is there?" When Slughorn walked away to check on other students, Hermione said with sparkling eyes, "Even if Professor Snape and Professor Happ were combined, they couldn't teach you how to detoxify a complex compound toxin in a few lines."

"I can carry a piece of bezoar with me." Harry gritted his teeth and whispered.

Hermione was stunned for a moment, but Ron said excitedly, "Is it still possible? Why not do it? We have plenty of time--"

"No! Professor Slughorn knows Harry's precious book, and not only does he know it, he has also looked through it." Hermione said hurriedly. She said seriously, "I think the first person who does this will be considered a genius, and the second will be a poor imitator."

"That's a good summary, thank you, Hermione." Harry said angrily.

When Slughorn returned to the podium, the students were dejected. None of them could prepare the antidote within the specified time. This was a big blow to them.

However, Slughorn did not show any disappointment. He straightened his tight stomach and said with a smile: "Did you find that some tricks don't work?"

Some students looked at Slughorn and then looked at Harry.

Because of the special experience of the OWLs exam last year, many people knew that several Gryffindor students got the textbooks that Professor Hep used when he was in school from him. Later, some simplified steps of potions with OWLs difficulty were sorted out, and all students from the four colleges benefited.

At the beginning of this year's Potions class, they also wanted to do the same. Although they got the notes (Harry removed some dangerous curses and Professor Hep's terrifying remarks), they were surprised to find that this approach did not work.

Slughorn said with a smile on his face and his walrus beard trembling:

"Yes, Miss Granger was the closest to success in today's test. If she were given another half an hour, I believe she could prepare the antidote independently. But she still has a long way to go before she can be a true potion expert."

Hermione was not convinced and she pouted.

"I can name some particularly outstanding potion masters, such as Damocles Belby, Severus Snape, and of course, Lily Evans -" Slughorn glanced at Harry with a smile, "Perhaps my criterion for judgment is grades, but that is not the case... A potion master needs a spirit of independent thinking, courage, love, rigor, innovation, and an extraordinary understanding of potions."

"For truly talented people, these qualities will be revealed early, and their thoughts are like liquid grass under a full moon, so different."

"It is difficult for outsiders to understand that among the same students who have achieved excellent results in the OWLs Potions Examination, I particularly favor one of them... This is because I see the talent of that student. This is often the case. They will have a huge gap in the sixth grade. I rarely make mistakes."

"The advanced class is not like the previous grades. You will be exposed to more magical potions and more profound theories. If you don't love potions, it is actually difficult to go far enough... Of course, it is still possible to prepare some barely acceptable potions."

"It's very similar to what Professor Happ said." Harry muttered in a low voice.

"Harry, do you have any questions?" Slughorn asked with concern, not hearing his mumbling clearly.

Harry was stunned and stood up reluctantly. The others looked at him.

"Well... I want to know, is Professor Happ a talent? I mean, his notes are very useful to me--" Harry asked hesitantly.

This time Slughorn did not give an answer immediately as usual. He frowned and thought for a long time.

"I haven't taught him, but... from the notes, it is obvious that he has his own independent ideas about potions." Slughorn was obviously reluctant to say more, but the students were all staring at him, very interested in this topic. Slughorn waved his hands in the air for a while as if he had nowhere to put them. "Okay." He cleared his throat and muttered in a low voice.

"I don't think he will become a potion master - Professor Hep is capable of concocting some advanced magical potions, yes, I have no doubt... His notes are very logical, and with his magical attainments, he won't mess up those delicate operations."

"But I didn't see too many groundbreaking insights, probably because his heart is not in it. His achievements in the field of ancient magic runes are enough to explain everything. This is normal. Talented wizards always have more personality. They will be attracted to different aspects of magic..."

Harry suddenly thought of something else. Professor Slughorn probably thought of Voldemort in the same way.

Voldemort also performed well in school. Dumbledore said that he got A's in all subjects, but he might be more of an imitator than a pioneer in the field of potions, just like Professor Hep.

As Slughorn said, "Talented wizards are attracted to different aspects of magic." Obviously, Professor Hep finally chose ancient runes, while Voldemort did not hesitate to plunge into the abyss of dark magic.     He also thought of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, the former best friends, who also took completely opposite paths. Harry suddenly understood a little bit of the "choice" that Dumbledore had always emphasized. He had seen too many excellent wizards in the Pensieve in the past few

months     . They all appeared different at the beginning, and sometimes even looked weird and clumsy, such as Mr. Newt Scamander...     In the evening, Felix suddenly appeared in the office.     He had just come back from outside, to be precise, from an altitude of tens of thousands of meters. Except for the low temperature, there was no other impact. He originally wanted to go through the thick clouds to a higher place, but after thinking about it, he felt that there was no need to rush.     Just take it as a walk after dinner.     When he came back, Valen, who was sitting on the sofa making juice, pointed to the window, where a silver phoenix patronus was quietly staying.     "Felix, I hope you can come over." Dumbledore's voice said.     So Felix turned and walked out of the house, "I'll take you out for a walk another day." Valen waved at him.     The headmaster's office, the spacious room was brightly lit, and the window was dark. Dumbledore was sitting behind the long-legged desk. When he saw Felix, he immediately put down the newspaper in his hand, walked around the desk and stood in front of him.     "I want to show you something." He said bluntly.     "Do you need to use the Pensieve?" Felix asked, and Dumbledore looked at him in surprise, "What? Oh--" Dumbledore noticed that Felix's eyes fell on a transparent glass bottle on the table, which contained strands of silver filaments.     "No, not that." He said briefly.     Wisps of smoke emerged from the tip of Dumbledore's wand and soon condensed into a picture in the air. Felix glanced at it and his eyes became cautious. He strode forward and stared down at the marching crowd and buildings in the picture.     "The Parliament Building?" Felix tilted his head.     Dumbledore nodded, then gestured with his finger for him to look in a direction.     Felix turned his attention back to the picture. He ignored the colorful and extreme slogans held by the demonstrators, and his eyes kept searching. Dumbledore definitely wanted him to see more than that, so...     in the open space in front of the building, Rita Skeeter, who was obviously dressed up, held a microphone in her hand and occupied an important position.     "Rita Skeeter?" Felix laughed dumbly: "That surprised me. And her status seems to be quite high."     "That's the crux of the matter." Dumbledore said: "This picture was shown by Grindelwald when he applied for the job. I know he has the ability to predict the future. Of course, he can only see some fragments of the future."     "I guess he definitely doesn't know Rita Skeeter." Felix said with a smile.     "Skeeter's sharp words are far more recognizable than her appearance," Dumbledore agreed: "And they probably staggered. Skeeter almost disappeared in the wizarding world this school year. It took me some time to find her in the Muggle newspaper."     Felix blinked. It was he who recommended this woman to Amelia Bones.     "Since then, I have been keeping a close eye on her movements. I don't think that newspaper is a good place to go. The working environment is far more complicated than that of the Daily Prophet, but she has undoubtedly adapted well. With a series of reports on anti-gun campaigns, she has become famous and is expected to win a very important journalism award..."     "This is definitely a pleasant surprise for her." Felix was quite emotional.     "My question now is," Dumbledore looked at him with interest, "Does she plan to live as a double-faced reporter forever? I know that some wizards have independent identities in Muggle society - not just a name, but a more specific profession - but these people basically tend to lean towards one side. It is actually rare for her to be active on both sides."     Felix hesitated for a moment. "     Amelia gave her a mission of only one year, but from my understanding of Rita Skeeter, she can't give up the reputation she has worked hard to build on the other side, so she may take the initiative to maintain this life after the mission is over. As for how long... no one can predict."     "Yes, no one can predict."     Dumbledore said softly, lost in thought. After a while, he came back to his senses and said, "Felix, there is another more important thing."     Now it was Felix's turn to be curious.     "About Grindelwald?" He asked tentatively.     Grindelwald had just delivered a nearly surrendering speech during the day. Could it be that Dumbledore changed his mind so quickly? Felix was thinking about the impact of this move. It was not just a matter of having another colleague of the Dark Lord, but a series of changes brought about by it.     The attitude of the Ministry of Magic, the commitment of the International Confederation of Wizards...     Of course, these were not important to Felix. It is worth noting that if Grindelwald is allowed to stay in Hogwarts for a long time, the risk of his identity being exposed will be greatly increased.     What DeWitt, who had previously packaged himself as a loyal and fanatical saint but was actually an ambitious man, said was actually not without reason:     'In the end, it is almost inevitable that the news will leak out. At that time, the eyes of the whole world will be focused on Hogwarts, and even Dumbledore, with his current status, will find it difficult to resist...'     "I have communicated with my successor, Mr. Babajide Akinbade, the new president of the International Confederation of Wizards," Dumbledore said in a deep voice, "When the exams are over this year, they will send someone to send Gellert back to Nurmengard Castle."     Felix looked at him in surprise.     "When did this happen?"     "Just last night."     Felix looked at the old man in front of him strangely. This approach was much more decisive than he had imagined. Did Dumbledore just decide to throw old man Grindelwald back to prison? Fortunately, after he learned about the existence of the Blood Alliance from Harry, he thought Dumbledore had softened his heart.     "So... what do you need me to do?"

"I'm worried that something unexpected will happen when Gellert finds out. I hope you keep a close eye on him during this period, and..." Dumbledore paused, his silver-white beard trembling slightly, "Do you know the spell to restrain the magic in him?"