Early Tuesday morning brought Herbology with the Slytherins.
The class took place in the greenhouses, and today's subject was caring for dittany, an essential magical ingredient for healing potions.
Dittany was currently in its fruiting season and required exceptional care.
Rather than being crushed under pressure, Shuxin blossomed under it; her natural gift for herbology earned high praise from Professor Sprout.
Given yesterday's events, Professor Pomona Sprout had been deeply concerned for Shuxin, but seeing her sharp intuition for magical plants today finally set her mind at ease.
When Merlin closes a door, he also opens a window—yesterday's setback meant today would bring a bountiful harvest.
Deep in the bones of anyone from Hua Guo lay a touch of Shennong's ancient heritage.
After class came the inevitable three rolls of parchment for homework. The mere thought of having three Herbology classes a week made Shuxin's whole body ache.
Shuxin and her three friends arrived early at the Great Hall for lunch. As Shuxin stepped inside, the room instantly quieted down quite a bit.
The History of Magic professor in the afternoon was a ghost, universally known as Professor Binns.
The history lecture was as dull and tedious as ever, but Shuxin completely changed her usual attitude, listening with intense concentration and taking detailed notes.
Having a teacher lecture was at least better than reading the textbook alone, especially when history was so dry it practically induced sleep on its own.
"Miss Field, I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have called you that."
"Miss Field, I'm sorry."
Right after History of Magic ended, Shuxin was intercepted. It was that group of Gryffindors from yesterday.
Shuxin simply let out an "oh" and moved to step past them.
"Miss Field, Dennis and the others know they were wrong. Professor McGonagall already docked points and gave them detention last night. Won't you just forgive them?" chimed in a nearby Gryffindor.
Once again, Shuxin found her path blocked by strangers.
Shuxin: "Oh, why should I forgive him? Did Merlin say so? Or Dumbledore?"
Shuxin: "If apologies were useful, what would we need Aurors for?"
Shuxin: "The day Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban is the day I'll forgive him. Please move aside, you're blocking our way."
*"A good dog doesn't block the path,"* Shuxin muttered to herself in Chinese.
Shuxin's devastating retort had already spread far and wide across Hogwarts.
That second sentence in particular became an instant classic, even reaching beyond the school walls and causing the Aurors' favorable impression of Shuxin to skyrocket.
"Shuxin, those Gryffindors already apologized. Why won't you forgive him? This whole thing has already blown up way too much," Ada said with some unease, troubled that the incident was now known throughout the entire school.
"How can you say that? How could he possibly say something like that to Shuxin? Is this supposed to be a joke? I don't find it funny at all," Susan said.
"Mm-hmm, he might think it was just a harmless joke, but just imagine how wronged the person being mocked must feel. I don't think Shuxin did anything wrong," Hannah added.
"If Shuxin hadn't made a fuss last night and had just silently swallowed it instead, believe me, by today everyone would be calling Shuxin by that name," Susan said.
"I'm not saying Shuxin was in the wrong last night, but now that they've all apologized and you're still holding your ground, Shuxin, from the outside perspective you're losing the moral high ground," Ada explained.
"I know, and thank you both for defending me. Ada, you don't need to worry about me. No matter what others say, at least I still have you three good friends by my side, and I know where to draw the line—I won't give the professors any reason to think I'm going too far," Shuxin said.
Professor Sprout even brought up Shuxin during dinner, praising her sharp intuition for plants and mentioning her to Professor Snape, noting that anyone with such a keen sense for herbology generally excelled at potion-making as well.
Much to Professor Snape's disappointment, however.
Wednesday morning brought Potions with the Ravenclaws.
In class, Shuxin's talent was merely average—safe, careful, and precise enough to avoid mistakes, but nothing spectacular.
And that was with Terry as her partner; in Shuxin's own words, poor students shouldn't team up with poor students for fear of causing an explosion.
Susan agreed with the logic and snatched up Karl instead, leaving Hannah and Ada to rely on each other. Surprisingly, though, Ada's potion-turned out quite decent, standing out as a bright spot among the Hufflepuffs.
Astronomy was a joint class held in the Astronomy Tower with all four houses. Just as Shuxin had imagined, the stars here looked ridiculously huge.
Under the telescope, the stars were breathtakingly beautiful—it was just that their names were a nightmare to remember, let alone their orbital trajectories.
Fortunately, there was no homework. As for whatever pop quiz might pop up next week, Shuxin simply chose to selectively ignore it.
Thursday morning brought Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, and as expected, all four girls struggled with it.
Shuxin couldn't help but admire her own foresight; before the term even started, she had braved Professor Snape's scowl and wisely befriended Terry.
*Amitabha*, she thanked her past self.
The afternoon brought Herbology once more, this time focusing on silk tree flowers, which were used to brew the Euphoria Elixir. Silk tree flowers weren't fussy and were relatively easy to care for.
After class, Shuxin shamelessly begged Professor Sprout to lend her a potted mint plant.
Only she soon regretted it.
Stinky smells mixed with fragrant ones, and the combination made the six of them endure a thoroughly soul-crushing morning.
Even the mint plant withered slightly, breaking Professor Sprout's heart when she arrived for afternoon class and prompting her to order Shuxin and the other five to weed a patch of a plant called "fluxweed" after class.
The evening marked Shuxin's second tutoring session with Professor Snape. Despite Professor Snape's meticulous guidance, Shuxin's wand still refused to react, which was deeply awkward.
Then came the weekend—free of classes. Reflecting on the past five days, there had been anger, joy, and a grand total of 18 rolls of parchment.
Truly, everything in the world had two sides.
For instance, the History of Magic was undeniably dry and tedious, but it had no homework; Astronomy was a bit hard on the neck, but it had no homework; Defense Against the Dark Arts smelled terrible, but it had no homework.
It wasn't until the second month that Shuxin learned Monday morning wasn't class-free after all—that was when Flying lessons took place. Shuxin's flying was mediocre, but Susan excelled at it.
The Quidditch captain even urged Susan to practice diligently, promising to recruit her for the team next year.