When Vid went to the Great Hall for breakfast in the morning, he received his class schedule for the new semester.
The schedule was packed, incomparable to the ease of the previous two years, with some classes completely overlapping.
Just this morning, starting at nine, he had Divination and Numerological Divination, followed by Transfiguration and Spell Class.
After an overly hectic morning, there were more classes in the afternoon: Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Astronomy in the evening.
In fact, for previous students, the times for Divination, Numerological Divination, and Muggle Studies were all at nine in the morning, because the overlap rate among students was low, and the school only needed to make slight adjustments to meet most people's class needs.
But this year, due to the survey filled out by Vid and others, and influenced by Professor Abigail, many more students than before chose Divination and Muggle Studies.
Although Numerological Divination bore the title of "Divination," it became neglected.
After all, students who loved mathematics and sincerely considered themselves good at it were few, especially since most young wizards hadn't received a complete education in mathematics, making the Numerological Divination textbook seem like an alien script to them.
Ancient Magical Runes were somewhat better, partly because Vid, with the title of "Genius Alchemist," had stirred several trends in the magic world, making it highly appealing to many young wizards.
Many high-achieving students chose Ancient Magical Runes; to play it safe, they also picked two elective subjects that were relatively easy to pass with OWLsl exams.
In this way, Divination and the originally neglected Muggle Studies suddenly became overcrowded, and Hogwarts couldn't possibly apply for a Time Turner for everyone, so they had to readjust the schedule that had been followed for hundreds of years.
"My goodness, Vid!" Michael exclaimed as he peered at Vid's schedule: "So many classes! Is this hell?"
Looking at his own schedule, which he had just been complaining about, he found it much more acceptable.
Vid glanced at his own schedule and said, "It's not too bad... not every day has so many classes."
The day with the fewest classes had only four periods.
Even with eight classes a day, Vid, who once had ten classes a day plus morning and evening self-study, found it quite manageable.
He used to have to attend tutoring and interest classes even on weekends, but Hogwarts' courses didn't take up Saturdays and Sundays.
Considering that not every professor assigned homework and the stricter subjects usually required only a weekly essay...
Calculating it all, the pressure he felt just now vanished instantly. He put away the schedule and asked Michael, "Finished? We'd better leave early; the North Tower is quite far."
"Right away!"
Michael said, shoving the remaining boiled potatoes into his mouth in two bites and taking a big gulp of carrot juice, then leapt up from his seat.
Both Michael and Vid had signed up for Numerological Divination, so they headed towards the classroom—located on the seventh floor of the castle—together.
As they passed through the entrance hall, they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushing in. Michael watched their figures disappear at the Great Hall's entrance before turning to Vid and asking:
"If I remember correctly, Hermione also has to attend Numerological Divination, right?"
"Of course," Vid replied.
"Then, since she's just eating now, she'll definitely be late," Michael commented with sympathy.
The Numerological Divination classroom was near the library, and from there, one had to go upstairs, bypass a long corridor, and then climb several more flights of stairs to reach it.
Even without getting lost by the castle's moving staircases, it took quite a bit of time to get there.
But Vid just smiled and said, "Don't worry, she won't be late."
"Oh? She won't?"
"Yes."
"How does she manage that?" Michael asked in surprise.
"Sorry," Vid shrugged and said, "That's a secret, I can't tell you."
Michael stroked his chin, squinting slightly.
"That secret is also the reason you can take twelve classes, right?" he asked inquisitively.
Vid smiled but said nothing, his eyes unmistakably confirming it.
Michael didn't press further. He lowered his head and remained silent for a long while, only sighing deeply as they approached the classroom.
"I regret it," he said.
"What?" Vid asked.
"I should have chosen all the classes too..."
Michael said annoyedly, "I thought the school would stagger class times, or let you make up missed classes on weekends. But it turns out the reality may be more interesting than I guessed..."
"Taking twelve classes would consume so much time, writing homework for twelve classes... I think you'd last two weeks at most before giving up on your own..."
Vid laughed and replied.
He knew Michael well; Michael was lazy and never associated with the word "effort."
Michael imagined himself having eight or nine classes a day, shivered, and silently retracted his previous thought.
Not long after they sat down in the classroom, Hermione came rushing in, dropping her bag on the desk with a thud, her face still carrying an angry expression.
Vid watched her and guessed that Hermione might have already finished Divination by now—
Just as he had chosen to attend Numerological Divination with Michael first, Hermione should have just gone to Divination with Harry and Ron and heard Trelawney's prophecy about death.
One glance between them confirmed his thoughts.
Hermione gave him a helpless smile but said nothing, and even deliberately sat at the other end of the classroom, seemingly to avoid unintentionally sharing information about the "future Divination class" with Vid.
So Vid also looked away.
The classroom was sparsely populated, and as class time approached, there were still fewer than ten students, most from Ravenclaw, with Hermione being the only one from Gryffindor and no Hufflepuffs.
To Vid's surprise, Theodore Nott from Slytherin had also chosen this class, sitting alone, flipping through the Numerological Divination textbook.
Soon, a professor entered the room.
The Numerological Divination professor was named Setima Victor, a woman with thick black hair and an elegant and poised appearance.
She wore a deep red wizard's robe, topped with a pointed, ice cream cone-like hat, spoke softly and clearly, and didn't have much of a smile on her face.
"Numerological Divination is a rigorous discipline that's been around for over two thousand years."
She said in a gentle yet clear voice, "In this class, you won't be making things up based on a crystal ball or moldy tea leaves. Our divination is built on systematic and precise mathematical calculations, using numbers to explore a person's character and fate..."