bacchusnovels Chapter 531 The First Lesson of the New Semester
Chapter 531 The First Lesson of the New Semester
Chapter 527 The First Class of the New Semester (Part 2)
Just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione had guessed, Snape's potion recipe was the most difficult and ingenious one.
The ingredients must be added to the crucible in a strict order and in the correct quantities; the mixture must be stirred a specified number of times, neither too much nor too little, first clockwise and then counterclockwise; when the crucible boils, the temperature of the flame must be reduced to a specific standard, neither too high nor too low, and must be maintained for a fixed period of time before the last ingredient is added.
"Your potion should now be emitting a faint, silvery-white vapor."
With ten minutes remaining, Snape said coldly.
Harry, sweating profusely from his efforts, glanced up at the classroom in despair.
Just one glance, and my heart calmed down.
Although his crucible was emitting puffs of dark gray gas, how much better off were the others?
Ron's crucible was spewing green sparks, like fireworks.
If you took the crucible out and said it was the Weasley twins' latest fireworks product, no one would doubt it.
And Seamus? He frantically poked at the flames beneath his cauldron with the tip of his wand, because the flames were about to go out.
As for Neville, he fared even worse.
It was so tragic that words could not describe it—his crucible remained unchanged. Sometimes, it's not the mistake itself that's scary, but the fact that you don't even have the right to make a mistake.
Even now, Harry still doesn't know why Neville was chosen as a prefect by Dumbledore.
If Gryffindor always has someone who is guaranteed a minimum score...
So, besides Hermione, there was no one else who could be found. Her cauldron was already emitting faint, shimmering silvery-white steam, perfectly matching the steps described in the book.
As Snape strode past, he glanced down at Hermione's cauldron, his eyes, beneath his hooked nose, slightly lowered, offering no comment.
This means there's nothing to criticize.
However, when he reached Harry's cauldron, he stopped, looked down at the unsettling gas and Harry's relieved expression, and suddenly asked a question.
"Potter, what is this?"
The Slytherin students in the front row of the classroom all perked up their ears; they loved hearing Snape make fun of Harry.
"A calming agent," Harry replied.
"Potter, tell me," Snape said softly, "do you know how to read?"
Malfoy laughed loudly.
"I know him," Harry said quietly.
"Then read me the third line of the instructions." Snape's tone grew colder.
Harry squinted at the blackboard.
The underground classroom was filled with steam of various colors, making it virtually impossible to see the words on the blackboard.
"Add moonstone powder, stir counterclockwise three times, boil for seven minutes, and then add two drops of strychnine syrup."
The error has now been found: he didn't add the herb syrup and skipped the fourth step after boiling for seven minutes.
"Have you done every single one of the third rules, Potter?" Snape asked again.
"No," Harry said softly.
"Excuse me, could you please say it again?" Snape continued.
"Those ambitious individuals often use social identity theory to create division, reinforcing the superiority of their in-group and stimulating protective and aggressive instincts by defining 'us' and 'them'."
"Further through symbolic interactionism —"
"What is symbolic interactionism?" a young wizard suddenly raised his hand and asked in confusion.
"Simply put, it means that social behavior is given meaning through the symbolism of symbols, and a new round of construction is carried out."
Although Sean thought his answer was very simple and clear, some of the young wizards still didn't understand its meaning, which meant that Sean needed to explain it further.
"For example, teams release merchandise, and fans express their identity by wearing jerseys and waving flags. In this interactive process, a sense of 'group identity' is constantly strengthened."
"Jerseys themselves have no special meaning, but this kind of behavior is tantamount to giving jerseys special meaning, and the theory that explains this behavior is symbolic interactionism."
"The viewpoint of symbolic interactionism is itself still human."
"Things themselves do not have objective meaning; they are given to them by people in the process of social interaction. In the process of social interaction, people respond to things according to their own understanding of the meaning of things. People's understanding of the meaning of things can change with the process of social interaction and is not absolutely unchanging."
"Therefore, this practice is often used in business transactions."
The young wizards suddenly realized, some even showing a hint of anger, simply believing that their feelings had been deceived. Until Sean gave several other examples—
"As I said before, ambitious people often use this tactic to enhance the cohesion of their in-group."
For example, in the Muggle world, there was a painter who failed his college entrance exams—”
"They defined their own ethnicity as distinct from other ethnic groups."
"He reinforces identity through signs, salutes, and slogans. He uses the propaganda machine to fabricate conspiracies and incite hatred. The public supports his policies and even participates in them in order to maintain 'national purity.'"
"Or, there is another prime ministerial candidate in the Muggle world."
"Defining the actions of supporters as patriotic and stigmatizing opponents as traitors. Uniting core voters through red hats, songs, and rally slogans. Portraying themselves as defenders of the interests of ordinary people through media propaganda —"
"."
'
Hearing these examples, the initially angry young wizards calmed down.
Compared to the actions of those people, business practices don't seem unacceptable; compared to the deception suffered by the public, it doesn't seem wrong that they were deceived.
There's no end to comparing who's worse.
There will always be some bad people and bad things in this world.
Next, Sean returned the example to the question itself.
"After discussing social identity theory, we will now move on to cognitive dissonance theory."
"6
3
"no."
Harry raised his voice and repeated it.
"I really forgot to sneeze the grass."
Snape looked at Harry coldly and spoke slowly.
"I know you've forgotten, Potter. This means the potion in this cauldron is useless. Vanished without a trace."
As soon as he finished speaking, the potion in front of him vanished instantly, leaving only an empty cauldron and Harry standing there dumbfounded.
Snape ignored Harry and returned to the podium.
"Students who have carefully read the operating instructions, please put your reagent samples into a large-bellied, short-necked bottle, carefully label it with your name, and bring it to my podium for inspection."
"Homework—Write a twelve-inch-long paper on parchment discussing the properties of moonstone and its uses in medicine. Due Thursday."
The other people's potions were bad, but at least they had some.
Now-
What did he use to hand in his homework? He could only watch as others filled bottles with the medicine and labeled them with their names.
For a moment, Harry felt like an idiot.
But shouldn't he be used to this kind of thing happening to him, in the potions classroom?
After a long time, finally, the bell rang.
But as the saying goes, "misfortunes never come singly," did this bad luck only happen in one class?
Perhaps Ginny's experience on the other side can provide the answer.
Ginny's first class was the afternoon break.
Professor Trelawney was a thin woman, wrapped in a thick shawl, with a string of sparkling beads around her neck.
When Ginny walked into the classroom—
Professor Trelawney was busy distributing tattered leather-bound books to each table.
The flimsy little tables were scattered haphazardly in the classroom, and the dim light under the lampshade emitted an unpleasant odor; the stove fire also seemed rather weak.
Over the next five minutes, the others gradually arrived.
Hello, students.
Professor Trelawney spoke in her usual indistinct, dreamlike voice.
"Welcome back to the divination class."
"Of course, I've been keeping a close eye on your fate all summer, and I'm very happy to see you all return to Hogwarts safe and sound—because, of course, I knew you would all come back."
This kind of rhetoric seems to have become Trelawney's signature opening line. Ginny vaguely remembers that she said the same thing to everyone in the first class last semester, and many people were glad that.
"You're already in fourth grade, and you'll be facing the O.W.L. exam in a little over a year. I never put pressure on my students, but in fact, fate has recently told me—"
"What is dysfunction?"
"Does being in a different state from yours mean you're out of sync?"
"That's not the case. Simply put, 'dissonance' is an unpleasant motivational state that occurs when an individual's behavior and attitudes are inconsistent."
"Simply put, there are four reasons in total."
"Logical contradictions, conflicts of cultural values, contradictions between old and new experiences, and contradictions in ideas."
"When applied to the Tornadoes basketball team, it means—"
—
"If someone initially dislikes the Tornadoes team but is forced to participate in some celebrations, they might alleviate their inner conflict by convincing themselves that the team is great."
"For example."
"When you're forced to participate in certain activities, you convince yourself that the activity is actually quite good, thus resolving your cognitive conflict. If you don't convince yourself, wouldn't it be a waste of time and effort?"
"And it is at this moment that a person's cognition becomes disordered."
"Therefore, there is a saying in the Muggle world: 'You'll never lose out,' which is due to the theory of cognitive dissonance."
Muggle scientists categorize disorders into four types, and this type of disorder falls into the second category: obedience disorder.
The young wizards in the audience nodded thoughtfully.
No wonder----
Take going to school as an example. Not everyone likes going to school, but they have no choice but to go. During the process of going to school, they will naturally find some excuses to cope with the psychological imbalance.
So there are so many reasons why so many people like the Tornadoes team.
Then again.
So why do I hate things when I'm forced to do them? Before the question could even be asked, Sean had already given them the answer.
"Everyone's tolerance for imbalance is different; there are individual differences."
"Extroverted personalities are less likely to change their attitude when forced to write a paper that differs from their own understanding than introverted personalities. In other words, extroverted personalities are not easily changed. The more you force them to like something, the more they will develop a negative attitude towards it."
"Changing attitudes to achieve consistency is a major way to reduce feelings of dissonance. Due to time constraints, we will only introduce the second type mentioned above here. If you are interested in the other three types, you can look them up in the library."
"Next, we'll talk about the key points of this lesson."
"Conformity is a psychological phenomenon often mentioned by people."
Sean looked around the classroom and said, slowly and deliberately.
, 1
"Fate has told me that you need to learn some things in advance this semester. I don't know if the O.W.Ls exams will be able to proceed as scheduled next semester."
This statement caused a huge uproar.
Normally, Professor Trelawney only predicts people's "death," but now? She's predicting the "death" of exams.
This is absolutely amazing!
Compared to worrying about accidents happening to their friends, the cancellation of the dreaded exam was welcomed by 95% of the young wizards.
It would be even better if we didn't have to learn the knowledge in advance.
However, Trelawney was unaware of the atmosphere in the audience, or rather, even if she was aware, she didn't care at all.
He just kept talking.
"You'll find a copy of 'The Dream Interpretation Guide' by Enig Immagus on your desk. Dream interpretation is a very important method of predicting the future, and it's also a likely question to appear on your O.W.L. exam."
Trelawney's voice drifted gently into the ears of each student like a light wisp of mist.
This voice was enough to convince everyone, just like her, that this course was far more important than mundane things—like exams that could be canceled at any time.
"Of course, I think that compared to the sacred art of divination, passing the exam is really insignificant. As long as you have discerning eyes, certificates and levels are just trivial matters. However, the principal is willing to let you take the exam, so—"
"Please turn to the introduction and read Immagine's explanation of dreams. Then, pair up and use 'The Dream Interpretation Guide' to interpret each other's recent dreams. Let's begin."
The atmosphere in the classroom suddenly became extremely quiet, and every student lowered their head, opened their books, and began to read the introduction to dream interpretation.
This course does have one advantage.
Unlike other classes that run for two consecutive periods, this one ends earlier, giving students some breathing room.
Other courses are taught in two sessions at a time.
With the two classes combined, most of the morning was gone.
So, after the whole class had finished reading the introduction to the book, they only had ten minutes left to explain their dreams.
Speaking of dreams—
Ginny has been having a strange, or rather, embarrassing dream lately.