Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying!

The house-elves happily brought over a variety of delicious foods, including pies, steaks, baked potatoes, egg tarts, raisin pudding, orange juice, pumpkin juice, vegetable juice, and even two bottles of butterbeer. After the group had eaten and drunk their fill, the house-elves brought over many desserts, determined to make sure they were completely satisfied.

"I can't eat anymore," Neville said with difficulty, holding an ice cream cone and taking a lick.

“Almost every Hufflepuff student knows where the kitchen is, since our lounge is nearby. So it’s an open secret,” Theo told Michael. “And there’s always something good to eat in our lounge—Hufflepuffs never go hungry!”

“It’s wonderful,” Michael sighed, sipping his butterbeer. “Why am I not a Hufflepuff?”

“What are you talking about?” Ryan scoffed. “I heard someone say during the sorting season that he would rather drop out if he were sorted into Hufflepuff.”

“Ravenclaw isn’t all that great either,” Michael sighed. “The Ravenclaw tower is too high—really too high—I feel like I’m going to die from climbing it every day—and it takes a lot of determination to get back to the common room after class…”

He seemed a little drunk, and he sounded very aggrieved.

Wade managed to control himself and not overeat, but being his first time drinking, his alcohol tolerance was clearly low. Just two rum-filled chocolates and a glass of butterbeer were enough to knock him out. Wade's head was spinning, and he was seeing double.

He rested his chin on his hand, lazily yawned, and began to identify one pet elf after another—

"Coco, Amy, Becky, Happy, Lola, Phil..."

It seemed to be a great honor for the elves to have their names called by the wizard; they lined up to tell Vader their names, as if they were performing some kind of ritual.

“Hmm, Zoe? Are you a girl?” Wade recognized the little sprite who had spoken to him first.

To be honest, the little elves all have wrinkled faces like those of an octogenarian, and apart from their names, it's impossible to tell their gender from their appearance or clothing.

“Yes—yes, Mr. Gray,” Zoe said, nervously and excitedly twisting her fingers.

"Are you the ones who usually clean our rooms and do our laundry?" Wade asked.

“Yes, yes, sir.” Zoe nodded vigorously, her big eyes looking intently at Wade: “Zoe, Happy, and Phil are in charge of the Ravenclaw Tower.”

Look closely, and you'll see a tiny flower adorning this house-elf's tea towel—she is indeed a girl.

"Are you cleaning the rest of the castle as well?" Wade asked again.

"Yes, sir."

"You were the ones who brought our luggage off the train?"

"Yes, sir."

"You've worked hard," Wade sighed. "It's really tough work."

“No, no—how could that be?” Zoe quickly said, “We love working! Working doesn’t make us feel tired; not having a job is truly terrifying!”

The house-elves all expressed how dedicated and hardworking they were, never slacking off. They put in their best effort to prepare dinners that satisfied everyone, polished every piece of silverware until it shone, and washed the students' muddy shoes until they were spotless. They always appeared and disappeared quietly, never disturbing anyone, making them truly excellent house-elves.

Wade watched them silently for a long time without saying a word.

……

After dinner, it was almost curfew time. The elves generously stuffed the group with lots of cream cakes and fried jam donuts, and then they all returned to the academy lounge.

Wade and Michael climbed the movable stairs, and when they were panting heavily, the armor on the wall suddenly swayed, and then a white figure lunged out, letting out a beast-like roar.

"Ah!" Michael was startled and his legs went weak, causing him to sit on the ground.

"Hahaha……"

The white guy clutched his stomach and burst into laughter, floating in the air and kicking his legs wildly.

Michael was both annoyed and amused: "Pee-pee! You're hiding here scaring people again!"

Peeves is a special ghost at Hogwarts. He can float around, yet he also has a physical form and can touch objects. He loves to create chaos. Just like his name suggests—he's a very mischievous fellow.

"Look! There are two little wizards here! Wandering around outside at night instead of sleeping!" Peeves circled around Wade and Vivi in ​​the corridor, saying with ill intent, "Just you wait, I'm going to call Filch over! We'll catch you little rascals!"

Peeves loved scaring students who were out at night like this, then chasing them and watching them run back to their dorms in a panic, sometimes even tugging at their robes or pulling their hair. But this time he miscalculated, because when Vader waved his wand, a row of golden letters appeared before him, showing the current time.

"Ha!" Michael laughed, panting. "There are still seven minutes until curfew! You can't fool us, you little devil!"

Peeves' round eyes darted around, and he said slyly, "Seven minutes—that's not enough for you to get back to Ravenclaw Tower."

“Yes. But by the time you summon Filch, we’ll definitely be back,” Wade said casually.

Peeves scoffed and muttered, "Hmph, boring Ravenclaw!" He turned and floated away to play pranks on other students.

Chapter 20 Riddles and Rumors

Michael breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness we weren't bothered by Peeves. It would have been terrible if he had actually called Filch."

“It’s unlikely that Peeves will go to Filch.” Wade pulled him up from the ground and said, “Have you forgotten? They hate each other. Peeves wouldn’t want to do anything to please Filch.”

“That makes sense,” Michael nodded.

Peeves is always causing trouble, either knocking over statues or spilling ink everywhere, which adds a lot of work to Filch, the castle's caretaker, and drives him crazy.

The two walked up the Ravenclaw Tower's steps, spiraling upwards until they felt dizzy. They had to stop and rest every now and then, their thighs aching as if they didn't belong to them.

Michael would usually start complaining at this time—unless there was a pretty girl next to him, in which case he would pretend not to be bothered at all and stop to rest under the pretext of taking care of the girl.

But today, Michael was very quiet. It wasn't until they were almost back in the lounge that he said, "We have flight lessons tomorrow too."

Wade: "Hmm."

"Forget all that nonsense I said!" Michael said sullenly. "Take it slow and follow Mrs. Hodge's instructions."

Wade said helplessly, "Navi's incident was just an accident; not everyone is as unlucky as him."

Michael may not be unaware of this, but he couldn't shake off the burden in his heart for the time being.

After finally getting back to the tower, curfew had already passed, but a few students were still gathered in the corridor—not every Ravenclaw is good at solving puzzles; when it comes to areas of ignorance, even the smartest brain is helpless. So sometimes you can see more than twenty students standing outside the common room, discussing how to answer the day's questions.

Wade walked over and knocked on the bronze door knocker on the wooden board. The eagle's beak on the door knocker suddenly opened and said in a gentle voice, almost like chanting, "Hands are above and below, sometimes crawling, sometimes walking. When walking, they're like people; when crawling, they're like dogs."

The door to the lounge will only open if you answer the questions posed by the eagle-shaped door knocker correctly.

Michael imagined some kind of creature covered in hands, crawling in the shadows, and said with a look of horror, "What kind of monster is that? Is it—is it some kind of demon from mythology?"

He frantically pulled his textbook, "Monsters and Their Origins," from his bag and flipped through it without hesitation.

“Stop looking, it’s not in the book,” a Ravenclaw student said wearily. “I’ve already read the whole book.”

The others nodded silently.

Wade stood to the side, deep in thought.

Bronze door knockers are like the legendary Sphinx; the questions they pose are not necessarily difficult, but sometimes they are not easy to answer—because the door knocker only asks questions without telling them whether it is a riddle or a brain teaser, nor does it hint that the answer is a plant, animal, tool, word, or even an intangible thing such as time or death.

This riddle sounds very Cthulhu-esque at first glance, but it also seems somewhat familiar.

"--monkey?"

After a moment, Wade asked, somewhat uncertainly.

“Correct answer,” the eagle-shaped door knocker said, opening the wooden door.

……

After the accident during flight lesson, the breakfast table was much quieter the next day. The students no longer tirelessly recounted their stories of flying over mountains and seas on broomsticks; instead, another piece of news spread among the first-year students.

"Didn't Harry Potter almost get into a fight with Malfoy from Slytherin during flying lesson yesterday? Guess what happened?" Padma Pettier said mysteriously to those around her at the long table, "I heard that because Harry Potter showed amazing flying talent, he not only wasn't punished, but Professor McGonagall even made an exception and recommended him to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team!"

Because she has a twin sister in Gryffindor, she is always well-informed about this.

"Really? Professor McGonagall?" The students around were all surprised. Who didn't know that Professor McGonagall was the most impartial and strictest professor at Hogwarts? She treated all four houses equally and never showed favoritism. This time, she actually made an exception for Harry Potter. This shock even made people forget the previous news for a moment.

But eventually someone remembered.

“That’s impossible,” Terry said confidently. “No freshman has ever joined a Quidditch team in a century! It must be a rumor!”

“Maybe he’s a reserve player or something,” Anthony guessed. “After all, we’ve all seen that Porter flies really well, and he’s fast and agile. It would be incredible if the Gryffindor team turned him down. But he’s a freshman, he’s never ridden a broom before, and he doesn’t even know the rules of Quidditch. It would be absurd for him to join the team directly—he should just be a reserve player.”

Another student, Kevin, added, "Think about it, if Porter had actually been allowed into the team, the Weasley brothers would have made a fuss about it long ago. But have you heard a word they said?"

The analysis was logical and well-founded, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Padma curled her lip in disdain and whispered to Michael, "Actually, it's Gryffindor's captain, Wood, who wants to keep Harry Potter a secret weapon, which is why he doesn't allow it to be publicized. Those stupid boys are just jealous, that's why they don't want to admit it."

Michael didn't remind her that he was also a boy, but instead smiled and said, "Maybe they just don't want to admit they're not as good as another boy in front of pretty girls."

Padma's face flushed slightly.

Wade glanced sideways and saw Michael raise one eyebrow at him, looking dashing and carefree at such a young age, as if he had already emerged from the shadows of the past. Wade couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out in the dining hall—six long-eared owls, carrying a long, thin package, struggled into the hall, attracting everyone's attention. The owls swooped down, dropped the package in front of Harry Potter, and then flapped their wings and flew away, leaving only a few feathers behind.

Michael gasped, grabbed Wade's wrist, and whispered, "A broom! I bet it's a flying broom!"

His eyes reddened with envy, and he said in a voice that sounded like he was about to vomit blood, "And it's a Nimbus series—I recognize the packaging!"

“Yeah.” Wade pried his fingers apart, put his hand back on the table, and said casually, “If you do well in your flight class this afternoon, you might have a chance to join the team and get a new broom!”

He was just saying it casually, but Michael seemed to take it seriously. His eyes became very serious, and he used extra force when biting into the lamb chop.

Soon, it was time for flight lesson.

Chapter 21 Ravenclaw's Flying Lessons

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw students walked together to the lawn where flight lessons were held. From there, they could see Hagrid's cabin and the Forbidden Forest in the distance, and sometimes they could hear strange noises coming from there.

Unlike the adventurous Gryffindors and the troublemaking Slytherins, Ravenclaws are adept at self-preservation and generally only test the waters within the rules. Hufflepuff students are well-behaved and would never break the rules. Most students in these two houses do not set foot in the Forbidden Forest until they graduate from their seventh year.

About twenty flying brooms were neatly arranged on the ground, where Mrs. Hooch was already waiting. She stared at the students with a wary and scrutinizing gaze, her eyes like a hawk's, and said sternly, "I guess you've heard about yesterday's accident! Mr. Longbottom of Gryffindor was lucky enough to only break his wrist, but if you act recklessly, it wouldn't be surprising if someone broke their neck! You'd better remember that!"