On the day after the results were released, Hogwarts Castle suddenly became lively again.
The young witches and wizards were no longer completely absorbed in games. Instead, they clutched their Magic Notebooks and began to study in earnest.
Just the previous day at noon, every student with a Study Score below 60 had received a letter personally written by Headmaster Dumbledore (the full text is in the "Related Works" section). The gist of it was:
"Education cannot be a one-size-fits-all matter. Everyone makes mistakes, so everyone deserves a chance to make amends. As long as you complete your daily study plan and then voluntarily take a comprehensive test, and pass it with a satisfactory result, your Magic Notebook will return to normal use.
"At the same time, I hope you will learn from this incident. You must be honest in your studies, and never again allow a situation like this to occur."
Catching the students off guard like that and grabbing hold of their greatest weakness, he not only forced them to throw themselves wholeheartedly into their studies, he almost managed to completely whitewash his own image in the process.
Why only "almost"? Because Loren could still occasionally hear students cursing under their breath.
These Magic Notebooks were custom-made by Loren. Since they were custom-made, of course they had some very… "special" features. The most special feature built into these Magic Notebooks was "privacy".
Each student's Magic Notebook could only be used by that student. If it was handed over to anyone else, it would forcibly power down and turn into an ordinary paper notebook.
At the same time, whenever the Magic Notebook was running a study plan or administering a comprehensive test, it would scan its surroundings. If it detected anyone other than the registered user nearby, it would immediately suspend all services.
As for how to restrict usage like that, the big Internet companies back on Earth had a wealth of experience. Loren had merely copied a tiny bit of their tricks, and that was already more than enough to make this batch of young wizards suffer.
Amid the students' muttered curses, time slipped by without anyone really noticing. It was as if, all of a sudden, their wardrobes were empty and all their clothes had been packed into trunks.
It felt like only yesterday that Hagrid had been leading the brand-new first-years across the Black Lake in the little boats.
Very soon, they were boarding the Hogwarts Express. With the whistle shrieking, the train pulled away from the castle where they'd spent their school year and carried them off towards the summer holidays.
In one compartment near the middle of the train sat Loren, Hermione, Harry, Neville and Ron.
Originally, the compartment had been occupied only by Loren and Hermione. Then Neville arrived with Harry and Ron in tow, and in the end they all squeezed in together.
Looking at the others in the compartment, Loren suddenly felt as if he'd gone back to the very start of term.
But the noise and bustle there had been on the train at the start of the year was now replaced by absolute quiet.
Almost every compartment was filled with students holding Magic Notebooks—either concentrating on their studies or happily playing games. Hardly anyone was chatting loudly anymore.
The main reason was that Ron's Study Score was 59, stuck just below the pass line. All because he'd wanted to take a shortcut and tried out the "one free copy" option.
Back when that group was running their little homework-copying business, they'd offered everyone one free homework copy. Ron, lured by the idea of getting something for nothing, had used that free copy on one assignment. That was how he'd ended up where he was today.
By contrast, everyone else in the compartment had Study Scores above 80. And with Loren, the 100-point "big boss", sitting right there, Ron's sense of injustice only burned hotter.
Seeing Ron's pitiful expression, Loren keenly realised something was wrong. Why had his Motivation Spell worn off so quickly? By his estimates, it should have lasted at least until the start of next term.
To confirm his suspicion, he said,
"Ron, come here a moment. I'll give you a full check-up."
Everyone in the compartment froze for a second at Loren's words, but what he said next made Ron put down his Magic Notebook and trot over eagerly to submit himself to Loren's examination.
"I have just the tiniest bit of admin access to the system. I can change your Study Score. Let me examine you, and I'll set your score to 50 for you."
After Loren carefully checked Ron over, he really did discover something different: the mysterious power wrapped around Ron's soul was almost on par with Professor Snape's.
Loren immediately tried to dispel the mysterious power from Ron's mind, but found that it had already completely fused with Ron's soul.
If he tried to drive it out, he'd inevitably harm Ron's soul. He'd made a tiny attempt just now, and Ron had already started to look vacant and dazed.
After thinking it over, Loren arrived at a rough guess. In the original timeline, Ron had said that he'd never been much liked at home, that George and Fred made a sport of teasing him. Given what Loren knew of the Weasley family's warm, noisy atmosphere, that sort of dynamic shouldn't have appeared at all.
The only explanation was that the mysterious power on Ron's soul might have attached itself to him when he was still in his mother's womb. That would explain why the power and his soul were so tightly entangled.
Suddenly, Loren turned his gaze on Harry.
If even Ron carried such a huge amount of mysterious power, then what kind of situation would the "Saviour" Harry be in?
Harry had been watching Loren's every move. He'd seen Loren put his hand on Ron's head, fall silent for a moment, and then Ron had ended up looking like an idiot. That sight made Harry very uneasy.
When Loren's eyes shifted onto him, Harry tried to press himself into the wall of the compartment, muttering under his breath,
"You can't see me, you can't see me…"
Seeing Harry's reaction, Loren could only "casually" mutter to himself,
"Someone here doesn't want to spend the whole summer being bullied by his dear aunt's family, right?"
The moment he finished speaking, Harry practically teleported to Loren's side, even reaching out to pull Ron out of the way.
Loren was very satisfied with Harry's attitude, so he examined him even more carefully.
Once the examination was done, Loren discovered that Harry's situation was even worse than Ron's. If Ron's soul was tangled up with the mysterious power, then Harry was more like a piece of soul that had grown on top of the mysterious power itself.
If we say that the intensity of the mysterious power on Professor Snape is 1, then the mysterious power on Ron measures about 0.8 Snape, while the mysterious power on Harry reaches as high as 2 Snapes.
What's more, the mysterious power on Harry was continuing to grow stronger as Harry himself grew.
That neatly explained all the good luck and coincidences Harry had enjoyed in the original timeline. With such powerful mysterious forces protecting him, Harry was basically the magical world's child of destiny.
Loren also found the reason for Harry and Voldemort's entangled relationship of love and hate: in the lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead lay a fragment of Voldemort's soul.
That fragment constantly siphoned off a portion of the mysterious power from Harry's soul, and through the connection between the two souls, that mysterious power was also being transmitted back to Voldemort's main soul.
After finishing with Harry, Loren turned his gaze on Neville.
Neville obediently stepped forward the moment Loren looked at him.
When Loren examined Neville, he found that the mysterious power on Neville's soul seemed to have been added later; it was very easy to dispel.
Lastly, Loren checked Hermione as well and discovered that the protection he'd left on her earlier was working very well. The mysterious power hadn't managed to touch Hermione's soul at all.
Once he'd finished all his examinations, Loren fell into deep thought. Combining the different results, he discovered another property of the mysterious power.
Put simply, this mysterious power was a bit like what people usually called "luck".
The more mysterious power someone had, the better their luck tended to be, and the more likely they were to turn misfortune into blessing.
Thinking back on how Harry had managed to grow so quickly in just a few short years in the original story, it was clear that the mysterious power had played an indispensable role.
When Loren returned from his thoughts, he found two pairs of eyes filled with hope staring at him—Harry and Ron. They were clearly waiting for the "rewards" Loren had promised earlier.
Loren was a man of his word, so he immediately delivered.
He first took out his own Magic Notebook and made a few adjustments on it.
The next second, Ron stared in shock as his Study Score changed—from 59 down to 50. At the same time, Headmaster Dumbledore's message on his notebook disappeared.
Cradling his Magic Notebook, Ron was so happy he didn't know what to do with himself. Harry, watching from the side, turned a gaze on Loren that was brighter than ever.
In Harry's eyes, if Loren could pull off something as impossible as altering Study Scores, then making sure he wasn't bullied by the Dursleys over the summer would be child's play.
Naturally, Loren wasn't about to disappoint him. If he wanted Harry to have a slightly more normal life at his aunt's house, he just needed to give Harry the ability to use magic outside of school.
Loren took Harry's wand and made a few subtle adjustments to the tracing charm embedded in it. From now on, Harry would no longer be restricted by the Ministry's underage magic traces.
Harry accepted his wand again, his grin every bit as wide as Ron's.
Loren didn't disturb the two of them any further. He casually added a thousand Study Points to Neville's account, then turned to chat quietly with Hermione about their holiday travel plans.
Time flew by without them noticing. After a rather hearty lunch and stuffing another pile of sweets into their stomachs, the train finally pulled into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
The young witches and wizards had already changed out of their robes into Muggle clothes. The moment the train stopped, they swarmed towards the doors, all eager to rush off into their wonderful summer holidays.
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