After leaving the library at eight o'clock, Ethan Jones finished his essay. After saying goodbye to Hermione, one went to the tower dormitory, which was probably the tallest in the school, and the other went to the dungeon dormitory, which was probably the shortest in the school.
He called Draco away from the common room, where he was playing Wizard's Chess with his two henchmen, leaving Crabbe, who had been wanting to take the game himself for a long time, to take over the endgame between Draco and Goyle.
The two returned to the dormitory one after the other and sat facing each other on the chairs.
"Now that everyone's here, tell me, Draco, what talent have you awakened? And what's the distribution of talents among the major Pure-blood families?" He paused for a moment, then continued, "Of course, I can show you what my awakened talent is like first."
His subsequent words silenced Draco's rebuttal.
Draco stared in astonishment at the black fireball that appeared in Ethan Jones's hand, which bounced up and down under his control and even tried to transform into the shape of other small animals.
Ethan Jones clenched his fist, and the fireball in his palm instantly dissipated.
"So, in exchange, can you tell me about your talent now?"
The book Ethan Jones was reading today, An Analysis of the Origins of Bloodlines and Some Talented Witchcraft, only gave a general introduction to some bloodline origins that might be related to fire, including different magical animals such as Fire Crabs, Dragons, and Phoenixes.
This means that any wizard whose ancestors had contact with these magical creatures and who has some of these creatures' blood in their body may awaken a talent related to fire. A lower-level talent might be the ability to learn a low-level fire spell, while a higher-level talent might be immunity to fire damage, and so on.
However, the book's introduction is indeed very superficial, and it doesn't mention any magical creatures that could produce black flames to match it.
Draco glanced enviously at the spot where the flames had disappeared: "I now think you must come from a very ancient wizarding family."
"My talent is somewhat weak; I only have a certain affinity for some snakes, and it's far less powerful than your ability to control fire."
When my father discovered that I had this ability, he was overjoyed, thinking that I might have inherited Salazar Slytherin's bloodline and might speak Parseltongue, but in the end, it turned out to be just wishful thinking.
"I may indeed be a part of his bloodline and legacy, but I am definitely not fully awakened." There was a trace of sadness in Draco's eyes, unaware of what story lay behind this past event.
"So, do you know which family or wizard has shown this ability of mine?" Ethan Jones didn't want to know about the joys and sorrows of the Malfoy family yet; he just wanted to figure out his own background.
"No, there are many families or wizards connected to fire, but the color of their fire is different from yours."
Most of them were red, with occasional blue or green flames, but I've never seen a black one in the family records.
He suddenly remembered something, but hesitated for a moment and didn't say it.
Ethan Jones noticed this and asked, "Do you know something?"
Draco deflected, saying, "No, I was just thinking about some family matters."
"Oh."
Another fireball appeared in Ethan Jones's hand. This time, he was multitasking, controlling the fireball to change into Edward's shape while staring blankly at it, pondering which family this color of flame was related to.
When Draco saw that he was not talking, he quietly left to continue playing with his friends and also went to ask the older students in the common room for some information.
After a while, Ethan Jones extinguished the flame. He wanted to write a letter to his parents, whom he had only been separated from for a day.
He unrolled a roll of parchment, picked up a quill, and several times wanted to write, but then put it down again. Finally, he wrote:
"Dear Mom and Dad, although we've only been apart for a few days, I already miss you very much. School life is going well, so don't worry. I'm getting along well with my classmates, and my roommates are all very friendly."
Let me tell you about all the amazing things about the school...
After finishing the letter, he put down his quill, and a feeling of loneliness welled up in his heart.
He took a moment to recall his childhood, the moments he shared with his parents before his memories returned, and smiled genuinely: "It doesn't matter if we can't find out the truth. I'm already very content with them."
They took the parchment aside to dry, intending to have Edward deliver the letter the next day.
He continued reading with his books spread out on his small desk when a thought suddenly popped into his head: "I should make a small bookshelf. Most of my books are still in boxes. I need to put them on my desk so that I can easily read and consult them later."
He kept this idea in mind and continued to try to find any possible clues between the lines.
It wasn't until almost 11:30 that the three roommates returned from the common room, excitedly discussing the exciting moments of the day's match.
Upon seeing Ethan Jones studying, Draco was the first to fall silent, followed by his two henchmen.
"It's getting late, everyone should go to sleep." After revealing his secret, Draco was quite wary of his roommate, whose background he didn't know, and didn't want to have a conflict with him.
The next morning, after greeting Hermione in the Great Hall, Ethan Jones hurriedly ran to the Charms classroom on the fourth floor.
Professor Flitwick, who was unusually small, had to stand on a stack of books to stick half of his body out of the lectern.
After taking attendance in the first class, Professor Flitwick displayed the two books that would be used in the first year of class—Magical Theory and The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1).
"In the first semester, we mainly study this book, Magical Theory, to help you understand how our magic is cast. Of course, this is a very basic theory. The truly profound principles will require you to study them on your own. There are related books in the library."
Flitwick's teaching was worlds apart from Professor Binns's rote learning.
Professor Flitwick first demonstrated some spells to let the first years know the various things that spells can do, and only after attracting their attention did he begin to explain the somewhat dry theoretical knowledge.
Although Ethan Jones didn't learn how to cast any spells in this lesson, he liked Professor Flitwick more and preferred Charms class.
"Although most first years don't like theoretical knowledge, theory is the foundation of all magic. If you want to go further in the future, just reciting a few spells won't be enough," he told himself.
The class was coming to a quick end. Although the other students were a little listless because they hadn't learned any new spells, Ethan Jones was very happy.
However, their good mood didn't last long, because after Charms class, they were to have Professor Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Although he knew that Quirrell, as Voldemort's puppet, didn't come to school to study properly, he was still very disappointed with the class, even after lowering his expectations.
"I thought Professor Binns' History of Magic was already unbearable, but compared to Professor Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, it's actually quite good. At least Professor Binns didn't break things down so much that it was impossible to understand what he was talking about!"
This was Draco's rant about Quirrell, and Ethan Jones wholeheartedly agreed.