Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 49.

During this time, Soren did not fall behind in his studies. This semester's Charms class mainly taught mental magic, such as the Joy Charm and the Sorrow Charm. 

This was Soren's area of expertise; as he delved deeper into "Abatail Volume One" and the Malfoy family spells, mental magic became second nature to him. Even Professor Flitwick believed that Soren's level in this regard was already on par with his own.

In a Charms Club activity, Soren presented a research paper on using the Joy Charm to enhance the power of the Patronus Charm, which was a fresh perspective that even Professor Flitwick praised highly. 

With Soren's consent, the paper was co-published by them in "Charm Innovations" after some revisions by Professor Flitwick.

Unexpectedly, this paper created a significant response in the academic community—Yulisi Hix, the chair of the Dark Arts Defense Alliance, specifically wrote Soren a letter expressing the Alliance's willingness to purchase all his research notes related to this, offering a considerable sum of galleons and also granting him honorary membership in the Dark Arts Defense Alliance.

Gulana Cleopatra, chair of the Medieval European Wizards Union, was not to be outdone, offering an even larger sum of galleons while also awarding the "Scholar's Contribution Award" medal. This medal not only granted Soren access to the library at the Union's headquarters in Sardinia but also secured him a competition slot in the "All-Europe Duelling Championship."

The All-Europe Duelling Championship is hosted by a mysterious organization known as the "Silver Spear." Silver Spear was a secret dueling club established in the 18th century, allegedly organized by a group of enthusiasts for dueling sports, with all four founding members wielding wands made from sycamore wood. Consequently, early admission criteria were stringent, allowing only wizards who used sycamore wands to qualify.

By the mid-20th century, the Silver Spear had relaxed its membership requirements, and anyone with outstanding performance in any international dueling competition could be invited to join. 

Although the specific benefits of joining the Silver Spear were unclear, Soren knew that many renowned wizards were eager to join, suggesting that there must be unexpected advantages.

After much consideration and consulting Professors Flitwick and Lucius on this issue, Soren ultimately chose to accept the conditions set by the Medieval European Wizarding Association. 

The main attraction for him was the competition slot in the European dueling championship, which would save him the lengthy process of participating in multiple selections. 

Furthermore, Professor Flitwick was very much looking forward to Soren's performance in the dueling competition and had even specially gifted Soren his notes on dueling techniques from his youth.

These notes contained his unique spells and dueling skills that he had developed, and as a former dueling champion, his notes were clearly very valuable.

[Professor Flitwick's Dueling Notes Obtained!]

This semester, the transfiguration class were mainly focused on transforming inanimate objects into small animals, and Professor McGonagall's assignment was to transform a teapot into a turtle—something Soren could already do since the previous semester during the Merlin examination. Because of this, Professor McGonagall exempted Soren from all homework, only requiring him to participate in the transfiguration club activities each week.

By the way, Soren had two papers published in "Contemporary Transfiguration."

The readers of "Contemporary Transfiguration" were not limited to the British wizarding community, and now Soren had begun to gain some recognition on the international stage. Some well-known figures in the field of transfiguration took the time to write to him, offering guidance to this promising young talent.

Soren benefited greatly from his correspondence with experts, and through frequent exchanges, they became close friends despite their age difference. These experts even specially sent Soren a wizard's transfiguration manual titled "The Secrets of Infinite Transformations." Although this book was written in other characters, these experts kindly included English annotations, for which Soren was very grateful.

["The Secrets of Infinite Transformations" Obtained!]

This semester's potions class was quite challenging. Besides the shrinking potion during the first week of school, another interesting potions lesson focused on the Confusing Concoction.

The ingredients for the Confusing Concoction were Scurvy grass, Lovage and Sneezewort, all herbs capable of heating the brain. Drinking it yields effects similar to being hit by a Confundus Charm, but it is more effective. Besides affecting cognitive abilities, the Confusing Concoction can also influence emotions, making the user reckless and impulsive, which if used properly, can yield extraordinary effects.

Soren knew that Snape and his father, Lucius, had a good relationship, and he often went to Professor Snape privately to ask about some advanced potion questions, such as why Neville's shrinking potion could revert living beings to a juvenile state and if this could be applied to humans to keep them youthful. 

He also asked about the differences between the Confusing Concoction and the Essence of Insanity, even though both are used to confuse the mind and lead to poor decisions.

To Soren's surprise, Snape, while still maintaining his usual cold demeanor, patiently explained these complex issues to him and did not show any disapproval about Soren's advanced studies.

What amazed Soren even more was that Snape gave him his own notes on potion-making from his student days, which included notes he had prepared for the OWL level exams. Although they were not as powerful as the "Half-Blood Prince's Potion Notes," they were extremely useful for Soren at this stage.

Soren even saw many improvements to the potion preparation steps found in textbooks within those notes. If this knowledge were to spread, it could potentially cause quite a stir in the potion-making community.

Snape had recognized Soren's potential back during last semester's dueling club, and his senior, Lucius, had also asked him in several letters to look after the Malfoy twins.

Draco was somewhat better off, but Soren was truly too outstanding. In the first year, he was snatched up as a prized pupil by McGonagall and Flitwick ahead of the others. Although he had intended to do the same, he had grown accustomed to maintaining a cool demeanor and couldn't bring himself to take the initiative to look after Soren. Watching Soren develop an increasingly close teacher-student relationship with the two professors only left him feeling anxious. 

Now, with Sorrn taking the initiative to ask him for advice, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

[Snape's Beginner Potion Notes Acquired!]

No one genuinely enjoys Care of Magical Creatures class. After the exciting first lesson, the class became particularly dull. Hagrid seemed to have lost confidence. Now, they went from one class to the next learning how to care for Flobberworms.

Flobberworms are brown, toothless worms that are 10 inches long. They enjoy eating lettuce, but in fact, they will eat almost any plant. The content of this class is utterly meaningless because they prefer to be alone, do nothing, and do not need much care. Overfeeding them can lead to their death.

Not only the Slytherin snakes were complaining about their misery, but even Ron, who had a decent relationship with Hagrid, frequently voiced his grievances.

This semester's Herbology class focused on caring for Puffapods, a magical plant that grows plump pink pods on its branches. The young wizards' task was to break open the pink pods and retrieve the shiny beans inside, then place them in a wooden bucket. These beans are very sensitive; they will immediately bloom upon contact with solid objects.

In this process, Soren found that his strength and agility did not bring him much advantage. Instead, being able to maintain a steady, non-trembling hand for a long time proved to be more important.

In this respect, the girls had an advantage. Moray shared her tips with Soren; she loved embroidery, weaving, and painting, so her wrists could execute delicate movements without inadvertently shaking the beans out. Under Moray's guidance, Soren, Daphne, and Meredith slowly grasped the essentials.

The clumsy Goyle and Crabbe were in trouble—both more than once spilled beans on the greenhouse floor, and the beans immediately bloomed in front of them. Although the flowers that bloomed were vibrant and beautiful, Professor Sprout's face, flushed with anger, was not pleasant to behold, leading to Slytherin losing points, and Goyle and Crabbe facing detention.

Soren's performance in Defense Against the Dark Arts was also commendable. Professor Lupin dared not underestimate this student who could withstand two Dementors head-on. Soren lived up to expectations and showcased his impressive abilities in class.

The first lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts involved Boggarts, and Soren easily transformed Boggart into a smiling face. The second lesson was with Red Caps, and he had already dealt with several in the Forbidden Forest. The third lesson covered Kappas, a type of water-dwelling reptile from Japan that resembles a scaly monkey with webbed hands, and enjoys lurking in ponds to strangle unsuspecting passersby.

This was not difficult for Soren. Like Red Caps, Kappas only create danger when wizards are unprepared. So long as he detected the presence of a Kappa with a "appare vestigium" spell before entering the water and used a drying spell to dry the water off its skull, he could scare it away—Kappa's strength derives from the water on its skull, and losing that water would weaken it.

Soren's favorite class was undoubtedly Potions. Professor Bock was a retired elderly alchemist from the ancient Bock family. His knowledge of alchemy was solid and extensive, and he had an eccentric temperament akin to that of a scientist, being very serious and meticulous while teaching.

His willingness to come out of retirement to teach was a big favor earned by Lucius, and he insisted on only teaching students in Soren's grade, unlike other professors, who had to be responsible for teaching students across seven grades.

Due to the small number of students, the Alchemy class was taught jointly with all four houses.

Perhaps because Professor Bock was brought in by Lucius, the students in the Potions class were predominantly Slytherin. 

Under Soren's lead, all Slytherin third-year students opted for this course; Hufflepuff had only Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones; and Ravenclaw had four students: Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Moray McDougle, and Lisa Dupin.

Gryffindor students showed no interest at all. It was said that the connection between the Alchemy class and the Malfoy family had long been spread within Gryffindor, so most people felt disinterested. 

Perhaps Hermione, who had a thirst for knowledge, was an exception, but she chose to give up the class to consider her friend Ron's feelings. 

In fact, she was already overwhelmed with her 12 elective courses, which was also one of the reasons she dropped the Alchemy class.

The content of the Alchemy course was not as exciting as imagined; the students had neither the opportunity to practically practice Alchemy nor to come into contact with the legendary alchemical items.

On the contrary, the knowledge taught by Professor Bock was very basic theory—starting from ancient Egyptian alchemical theories, requiring a deep understanding of celestial phenomena and geology, as well as rote memorization of various magical substances and metals' characteristics; then progressing to the theories of material and magical conversion proposed by European alchemists in the medieval period, which considered certain texts to possess magic and believed that by engraving ancient magical symbols on alchemical items, one could further achieve lasting effects in Alchemy.

This knowledge sounded tedious and seemed to have little practical use, but it was just right for Soren.

Soren's Alchemy was directly learned from the most powerful alchemist of centuries past, Nicolas Flamel. 

Unfortunately, Nicolas was not a good teacher; his extensive knowledge was so profound that even a single statement or principle he made took Soren a long time to comprehend its underlying principles.

Let alone the inheritance Nicolas left Soren—the alchemical notes in Flamel's Directory were informal records of his thoughts, never systematically organized, making them appear quite scattered and chaotic. Many parts were so confusing that Soren struggled to understand them without repeatedly consulting Nicolas Flamel.

Hogwarts' Alchemy course was precisely what Soren needed to fill in the gaps of his weak foundation, systematically re-learning the basic knowledge of Alchemy, clearing up many past misunderstandings.

Soren also didn't forget his promise to Daphne. Whenever he had free time, he guided Astoria with her homework, giving her some academic help, making Astoria one of the most outstanding students in the first year, and Soren and Astoria's relationship gradually became closer.

*****

Want to read more of this fanfic [25+ chapters], and support me :- Patreon.com/Theuntamed0