Harry Potter: Don't Touch the Badger's Plants

Looking at the Magical Perception Enhancement that had successfully advanced to Silver Tier, the joy in Ciel's eyes was impossible to hide.

He had previously thought it might take another three to five days, or even require harvesting several pots of Goldfish Vine rewards, before Magical Perception Enhancement could smoothly advance.

He hadn't expected that accidentally entering a flow state would lead to such natural success.

Even looking at the silver luster flickering on its text, it didn't seem like what a newly advanced ability should have. It was more like it had continued to improve several levels within the Silver Tier.

This breakthrough saved Ciel at least one to two weeks!

At this moment, Ciel also noticed the changes in Magical Perception Enhancement after advancing to Silver Tier. Magic had never been so close to him. It seemed like he could touch it with just a reach. Even with a thought, magic could be controlled like an extension of his body.

Ciel's breathing quickened slightly.

A thought flashed through his mind: Let there be light.

But the next moment, the magic within his body fluctuated symbolically. However, it was a hundred thousand miles away from Ciel's anticipated level of casting the Lumos Charm wandlessly and wordlessly through pure intention.

Ciel immediately realized this and shook his head inwardly.

"I thought so. Silver-Tier Magical Perception Enhancement certainly couldn't allow me to directly control magic and achieve wandless, wordless spellcasting. It's just that compared to before, my magical perception has improved so much that it created this illusion."

But after a moment of disappointment, a bright gleam flashed in Ciel's eyes again. Wandless, wordless spellcasting was certainly still very distant for him now. But if Magical Perception Enhancement continued to advance, that day would eventually come!

Then Ciel's gaze fell on the golden radiance on the system panel. What was emitting golden light was precisely the Lumos Charm that had been stuck between Silver and Gold Tiers for so long.

Logically speaking, when Ciel had harvested a wave of Lumos Shroom rewards last time, his mastery of the Lumos Charm should have been sufficient to advance to Gold Tier. It had just been blocked by insufficient magical perception, unable to advance.

Now, with the qualitative change in magical perception, the Lumos Charm and its derived Frequency Charm naturally came from behind. Surpassing the Soil-Loosening Charm and Pruning Charm that Ciel had mastered first, they smoothly advanced to Gold Tier.

Ciel's eyes showed excitement. Both magical perception and the Lumos Charm had undergone qualitative changes. This time, he should be able to meet the magical illumination conditions required by Piranha Algae.

However, this wasn't the place for experiments. Therefore, Ciel took a deep breath and calmed his emotions from excitement and joy.

He looked at Hermione in front of him. Hermione was also looking at him, her face full of hesitation.

Finally, Hermione couldn't help but ask, "Ciel... do you really not need me to take you to the hospital wing? You stayed up all night, but just now you kept showing excitement and smiling. Normally you shouldn't have such reactions. Are you under too much stress, too anxious?"

She paused, clearly struggling with her next words. "Um, well, actually what I want to ask is... are you sure you haven't seen any hallucinations? Are you sure you can distinguish between reality and fantasy?"

After a moment of bewilderment, Ciel couldn't help but laugh and waved his hands repeatedly. "I can distinguish, I really can distinguish. Really, Hermione, I don't have any mental problems. Just now I was just thinking of something happy, that's all."

Only then did Hermione breathe a sigh of relief, though still somewhat skeptical. "Oh, alright then."

At this time, Ciel raised his eyebrows, noticing something wrong with Hermione. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying. And it was only 6:30 in the morning now. Most young wizards weren't even awake yet.

Even though Hermione was a study enthusiast, when there were no exams, she wouldn't be this intense, right? Coming to the classroom at 6:30? Rather than coming to the classroom to study, Ciel felt Hermione was more like hiding from something.

"Hermione, I feel like you're not in a very good state. What happened?"

With Ciel's inquiry, Hermione's eyes reddened again. Perhaps because she had experience confiding in Ciel before, this time she also poured out her troubles like beans from a bamboo tube.

It turned out that after the last Lumos Charm final test, Hermione's situation in Gryffindor quickly returned to its previous state. It was even worse.

"I still don't understand," she said, her voice growing thick with emotion. "If they had started working hard earlier, how could Gryffindor's Lumos Charm final test results have been so poor? We gained the fewest points among the four Houses! But they don't seem to care about this at all. I tried to persuade them to review and preview more, we could form study groups so we could earn more points for Gryffindor."

Her voice cracked slightly. "But still, no one paid attention to me except Neville. They only remember me when they want to copy homework. This time I refused them, and it's like I committed some crime."

Hermione became more choked up as she spoke. "And Ron Weasley... he said I helped Hufflepuff before the Lumos Charm final test, said I was a Gryffindor traitor..."

Hermione wiped away tears that were about to spill. "All of this would be fine. But yesterday I heard Harry and Ron discussing the fourth-floor corridor. I haven't told you yet, right? During the midnight duel last time, we discovered a three-headed dog in the trapdoor on the fourth-floor corridor. It seems to be guarding something."

She continued with growing distress, "Harry and Ron have always had speculations about this. I was afraid they were still planning to go exploring at night. If they were discovered, Gryffindor would have no chance of competing for the House Cup. So I told them that instead of worrying about the three-headed dog, they should worry more about their regular coursework."

Her voice broke completely. "But Ron glared at me fiercely and called me an eavesdropper."

At this point, Hermione couldn't hold back anymore. "I feel like I'm not suitable for Gryffindor..."

Hearing this, Ciel felt a wave of emotion. A study enthusiast with collective honor falling among a group of mischievous, unruly troublemakers. No wonder Hermione was so miserable now. She didn't even want to stay with the Gryffindor people, preferring to come to the Potions classroom early to be alone.

Then Ciel said with conviction, "No, quite the opposite, Hermione. I think you're the real Gryffindor. Daring to take risks, going on night adventures, and causing trouble everywhere... that's just superficial bravery. True bravery is daring to fight against your environment, courageously sticking to your own judgment, doing what you think is right."

His voice carried genuine warmth. "I think you did nothing wrong, Hermione. They're the ones who are wrong."

Hearing Ciel's words, Hermione was stunned for a moment, and the gloom on her face seemed to dissipate somewhat.

"Thank you for comforting me, Ciel. I feel much better. You're right, I won't compromise with their stupid ideas."

Ciel smiled slightly. "Of course, if you want to relax, Hufflepuff always welcomes you. We little badgers are always ready to accept guidance from Miss Know-It-All. Tea and sweets will be prepared in advance too."

Hermione laughed, the first genuine smile she'd shown all morning.

After a moment, seeing that her mood had really improved, Ciel bid her farewell. After placing the processed materials under the podium, he turned and left.

The words Hermione had just said flashed through his mind. "Just like in the original story, Harry and the others still entered the trapdoor on the fourth floor and discovered the three-headed dog..."

Ciel's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Since Harry and the others had encountered the three-headed dog, it meant that the plot about guarding the Philosopher's Stone from the original story was already quietly unfolding.

Perhaps besides preparing to obtain dragon blood, he could also find an opportunity to take some blood from the three-headed dog. With the three-headed dog's size, just drawing a little should yield several buckets of blood. Enough for Ciel to use in cultivating Blood Jade.

Two preparations were always better than one.

However, after a moment, these thoughts gradually subsided in Ciel's mind. Compared to the still somewhat distant dragon blood, three-headed dog blood, and Blood Jade, what he was most concerned about now was the Piranha Algae that was within reach.

He wondered if his hypothesis could really succeed. Fortunately, he had no classes in the morning, so Ciel had plenty of time for research.

Then Ciel's face lit up with anticipation as he walked toward the greenhouse, ready to test the limits of his newly enhanced abilities.

(End of Chapter)

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