"Anyway, you must return to Ravenclaw Tower immediately. I cannot allow you to remain alone in the Potions classroom until we confirm that the danger has been fully eliminated. As for the test Severus assigned you, I will speak with him. He should grant you some additional time."
Professor McGonagall's tone was firm, leaving no room for argument. As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward the heavily injured troll lying outside the Potions classroom. Even in its weakened state, the creature looked terrifying.
"Additionally," she continued, her expression softening just a fraction, "although I do not encourage such reckless behavior, as a first-year wizard who managed to defeat a troll alone, you have earned ten points for Ravenclaw."
With a flick of her wand, she summoned two house-elves. They appeared almost instantly, bowing respectfully as she issued her instructions. One was sent to inform Headmaster Dumbledore of the situation, while the other was tasked with escorting Ryze and the others safely back to their respective common rooms.
"Alright, Mr. White," Professor McGonagall added, turning back to him, "you may call Ailey back now. The professors will take care of everything from here."
Ryze nodded. He dismissed Ailey, allowing it to return, and then used magic to tidy up the potion station. The scattered ingredients and tools quickly returned to their proper places, as if nothing unusual had happened. Picking up his cauldron, he followed the house-elf out of the dungeon passage and back toward the ground floor, accompanied by the other three young wizards.
It was only during the walk back that Ryze began to piece together what had happened with Hermione, Harry, and Ron.
Hermione had noticed Ailey earlier when it went to the Great Hall to explain the situation to his roommate and fetch some food. Initially, she had simply intended to ask whether Ryze had skipped the Halloween feast to continue studying. However, things had quickly taken a different turn.
She had overheard second-year students mentioning that Ryze had been lingering in the dungeons and had been caught by Snape, who was apparently in a particularly foul mood that day, and assigned additional work.
Then came the sudden panic—Professor Quirrell had rushed into the Great Hall, breathless and terrified, announcing that a troll had entered the castle. Headmaster Dumbledore had immediately instructed the prefects to lead students back to their common rooms.
Amid the chaos, Hermione remembered that Ryze was still in the Potions classroom. Without hesitation, she sought out Professor McGonagall, who was preparing to search the castle, and explained the situation. She then insisted on accompanying her.
"It's impressive that you thought of me at a time like that," Ryze said sincerely, turning to Hermione. His tone was polite, but there was genuine gratitude behind it. After all, she had gone out of her way to help him.
Then his gaze shifted to Harry and Ron.
Hermione had already explained her part, but he hadn't heard theirs yet. What exactly had brought them along?
Realizing this, Hermione paused and glanced back at the two boys behind her.
"Oh, right. I ran into Harry and Ron while I was heading to the dungeons with Professor McGonagall. They probably wanted to remind you as well."
"Not exactly…" Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He nudged Ron beside him before continuing, "Actually, Ron wanted to apologize to you first. Then we noticed you weren't in the Great Hall and thought you might be lost. We decided to go look for you. Ron said you were probably trying to find Ryze, so we ran toward the dungeons."
Ron, looking somewhat embarrassed, lowered his head.
"But we didn't expect you to go to Professor McGonagall first," he muttered. "Instead, we ended up losing five points because of it."
"Apologize?" Hermione blinked in surprise, clearly not recalling anything that required one.
Ryze, however, found the situation rather interesting. Ron seemed to have changed his attitude much faster than expected. It had only been half a day, and he was already considering apologizing to Hermione.
Had her reputation in Gryffindor risen that quickly?
Or perhaps Harry's influence had played a larger role than expected.
"It's about what I said this morning…" Ron finally spoke up, though his voice lacked its usual confidence. "Harry told me that even if our bet is over, we're still friends. And friends shouldn't say things like that. I wasn't thinking clearly when I said it. So… I hope you'll just forget it."
Hermione let out a small huff. It wasn't exactly a warm response, but it wasn't a rejection either. For her, that was essentially acceptance.
"But I won't remind you to do your homework every day anymore," she added, folding her arms. "My time is valuable too. You'll have to get used to completing your assignments on your own."
Then, as if the matter were settled, she turned back to Ryze.
"Do you think Professor Snape would agree if I wanted to sign up for the Potions Tournament?"
Ryze shook his head slightly.
"Hard to say. You can try, but the difficulty is quite high. Snape had me brew two shrinking potions with different effects. I failed twice before I managed to produce a standard one. Tomorrow, I still need to figure out how to brew the second type during class."
Hermione frowned thoughtfully. She was already aware that the shrinking potion was considered third-year material. The textbook only described one method, and even that explanation was incomplete.
If what Ryze said was accurate, then the challenge was far more complex than she had initially assumed.
"There are still two years left," she said after a moment. "I'll wait until I'm more confident before approaching Professor Snape."
Learning that Ryze had only been given a single day to prove himself made her realize just how far she still had to go. For now, she decided it was best to build a stronger foundation before attempting something so advanced.
Soon after, her curiosity shifted.
"What kind of magic did you use to defeat the troll?" she asked. "Was it that 'Final Spark' spell you developed with Professor Flitwick?"
The wound on the troll had been unmistakable—clean, precise, and far too refined to be the result of brute force alone.
At the mention of such an impressive-sounding spell, Harry and Ron immediately became attentive.
"Yeah, how did you do it?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Was it really just one spell?" Ron added.
Ryze gave a brief explanation of the principle behind Final Spark, keeping the technical details simple enough for them to understand. As for the rune effect that had activated afterward, he described it as a form of ancient magic he had recently begun to master.
The moment Hermione heard the term "ancient magic," her expression shifted subtly.
Over the past two months, she had devoted considerable time to studying ancient runes. However, after consulting with Professor Babbling, she had come to an unavoidable conclusion—she lacked both the talent for divination and the affinity required to wield ancient magic.
In that sense, she was already at a disadvantage compared to Ryze.
Fortunately, she had also learned something equally important during her conversations with the professors: talent was not everything. Hard work, discipline, and persistence could still lead to excellence.
That understanding had reignited her determination.
Even so, hearing Ryze speak so casually about mastering something that most wizards could never even touch left a faint trace of envy in her heart.
Thankfully, she also knew that Ryze was not someone who wasted his abilities.
Among all the first-year students, Hermione spent the most time in the library—second only to him. Aside from the first week of school, when he had spent an entire weekend investigating the mystery of an ancient raven statue, he had been consistently diligent.
She hadn't asked him about the statue since then, and he hadn't brought it up either. She assumed Professor Babbling had convinced him to abandon the idea, at least temporarily.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Ryze spoke again.
"Come to think of it," he said, glancing at her, "it was you who mentioned the Hyper-Sensation Spell back then. That gave me the idea to ask Professor Babbling to cast it on me. Your suggestion played a part in solving that puzzle—and in helping me grasp this ancient magic."
Hermione froze for a brief moment, caught off guard.
She hadn't expected that something she said in passing would have such an impact.
For the first time since the conversation began, a genuine smile appeared on her face—small, but unmistakably proud.
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