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

"—What rumor?" Wade realized that after three weeks apart, he was starting to fall behind Michael in conversation.

“Oh, we’ve all heard. Some people even came to ask me because they know we’re in the same grade—” At this moment, Theo entered and continued, “—but I must say, they didn’t seem to believe it very well, and thought someone was lying!”

“Hi, Wade. Long time no see—” Ryan followed him in and said, “I guess you don’t usually look at the SSC chat page?”

“Hmm—because I still need to read…” Wade asked.

“I guess that’s it, otherwise you wouldn’t have remained silent—” Ryan shrugged: “Let Theo explain, he knows better.”

Theo Mancini, although his surname is not among the legendary Twenty-Eight Holy Races, is actually of pure blood and has good access to information.

“That’s right,” Theo said, looking at Wade, “there were rumors even before the Book of Friends was released—” “They said that a completely new, cheaper, and more convenient way of communication would appear, which might break the loose structure of wizards and make relationships between people closer—”

Michael said, "I guessed then—maybe they were talking about the Book of Friends—"

So even though he had a Book of Friends, he didn't dare share it with his parents or friends. Instead, he kept it at the bottom of a box and would secretly chat with his friends every day under the pretext of studying, telling them not to reveal the Book of Friends.

But at that time, everyone except Michael had at least a page of his friend's book, while the others had already given their parents a copy. So everyone hurriedly patched up the story and told their parents to keep it a secret.

Unexpectedly, within two or three days, the rumor seemed to have spread all over the world, and everyone knew about it.

“Those few days, we went through Floo Powder several times faster than usual,” Ryan said. “Lots of people wanted to get involved. My dad said he knows a pure-blooded nobleman who’s doing everything he can to get the distribution rights for America—”

“But the owner of Aslan’s Magic Workshop—Machioni—was a cunning and unpredictable man—that was my grandfather’s assessment.” Theo continued, “He said that Machioni was like a hyena, and if anyone messed with him, he would pull the enemy’s guts out of his ass.”

Mancini's grandfather's words were actually more vulgar, and Theo was too embarrassed to repeat them, so he just mumbled something.

“No one dares to mess with Machione—no one has ever gotten the better of him. However, some say that Machione obtained the Book of Friends patent from someone else, and that the inventor was just a first-year student at Hogwarts—” Theo looked at Wade.

“Someone was desperate to find you. I was terrified of hearing your name, Wade,” Ryan said with some concern.

Theo continued, "But the great alchemist Terence Morrie publicly declared at a banquet that the inventor was his student, and he would not tolerate anyone causing trouble or annoyance to his student. Anyone who bypassed him to go to his student would be considered an insult and provocation to Terence Morrie—"

Ryan added, "It was only after that I learned that Professor Morrie was highly regarded in certain areas—and that Hogwarts also had Dumbledore—"

Just then, a witch pushing a snack cart passed by the door, and they stopped talking, each buying some snacks.

Then the interrupted conversation continued.

"Professor Dumbledore also said that he hoped everyone would respect his students, otherwise he would have no choice but to defend their rights—and suddenly everything was calm again."

As Theo unwrapped the Chocolate Frog, he said, "I heard that those with ulterior motives are going after Machione again. They probably think the cost of provoking Machione is lower compared to other options—oh, my Chocolate Frog!"

The frog suddenly leaped out, and Theo tried to catch it but failed. Finally, he was stopped by Wade just before he jumped out of the window.

"Thank you, Wade."

Wade handed over the chocolate frog and asked, "So... my name didn't get out?"

“Most people wouldn’t know; many of them would think you’re a sixth or seventh grader!” Ryan said. “But I suspect it won’t fool those pure-blood nobles—even with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Morrie speaking up, Wade, you’d better not be alone at school—”

Michael put his arm around Wade's shoulder and said with a smile, "Don't worry, we'll be inseparable like Siamese twins—by the way, bro, I heard that Marchionne paid a huge sum of Galleons for the usage fee—some people say you're already richer than a country, is that true?"

While the other two avoided the topic, he asked it frankly.

Vader tried to speak in a calm tone, one that didn't sound like he was boasting: "It's not that exaggerated, only fifty thousand Galleons."

Michael grimaced as if he had a toothache: "Fifty thousand Galleons! I've never seen so much money in my life!"

Theo laughed relaxedly, "Some people even say it's a million Galleons! That's utter nonsense—"

Ryan suddenly grabbed his shoulder, and Theo immediately stopped talking.

There was a knock on the door outside the carriage.

Chapter 62 Pride and Prejudice

"Boom, boom, boom."

There was a gentle knock on the carriage door.

Theo, who was near the door, got up to open it: "Hello?"

Then Vader and the others heard voices coming from outside—

"Mancini? You're in this carriage?"

“I heard Wade Gray is here—”

"Looks like we've come to the wrong place—we should have gone a little further ahead—"

The people outside were discussing amongst themselves and were about to search other carriages when a chance glance led him to see Wade sitting inside.

The student paused for a moment, his nonchalant expression quickly transforming into a warm smile—

"So it really is here?" He pushed past Theo and led the other two in, saying as if they were old friends, "Hey, Gray, how was your vacation?"

Theo was squeezed into a corner and watched helplessly as three students much taller than him entered the carriage, making the space feel cramped.

--Who are you?

Wade raised an eyebrow slightly, about to speak, when Michael suddenly interrupted him, standing up with a smile and saying, "Long time no see, Pewter. I heard you went to Iceland for Christmas?"

Pewter then turned to look at him, smiling as he said, "Yes, I saw some impressive scenery, and after I came back I heard about the Book of Friends—" He looked at Wade and said, "—it was truly amazing! I immediately bought the complete deluxe edition of the Book of Friends, twelve volumes in total, corresponding to the twelve months of the year."

Michael readily complimented, "As expected of the Prewitt family, even that Marchionne had to yield. We only managed to snag one of the limited-edition copies; we'll probably have to wait two weeks to buy a second one."

"Don't worry, it won't be that long. As long as there's money to be made, Machione's speed is like riding a Glaling. Of course—the December limited edition will only be available in the first batch, and only to truly ancient and noble pure-blood families, unlike some... well, they're different."

He spoke with an arrogant and meaningful tone, as if glancing at Theo casually.

The Mancini family wasn't actually that bad off; they were at least much wealthier than the Weasleys. It was just that Theo was assigned to the Hufflepuff family and seemed to have been labeled a "fool" and "idiot," instantly being swept into the lower rungs of the pecking order by these arrogant purebloods.

Ryan's face was cold. He was about to stand up when Theo pressed down on his shoulder, preventing him from speaking.

Michael seemed not to understand his implied meaning and said with a smile, "The Prewitt family is indeed very old—these two are—"

The two men standing behind Prewitt kept glancing at Wade with considerable interest, occasionally glancing at Michael, completely ignoring the two Hufflepuffs. Their scarves featured large patches of green with silver stripes, and their expressions were somewhat somber—clearly, they were Slytherins.

Of all the houses, only Eagle Union has a relatively good relationship with Slytherin. However, this "relatively good" means that when they meet, they will greet each other and exchange a few words, and they are polite to each other. They don't often travel together.

Prewitt, who was waiting for someone to ask, immediately introduced, "This is Gaston Yaxley—"

The blond, thick-browed boy smiled and nodded at Wade.

"This is O'Neill Foley—"

The boy, with dark skin and a gentle face, smiled kindly.

"—They are all sixth-year Slytherin students. They heard that the inventor of the Book of Friends is in this carriage, so they wanted to meet him."

As he spoke, Prewitt, though still smiling, met Michael's gaze with a hard look, signaling—you get out of my way!

Michael couldn't block him any longer, so he awkwardly stepped aside, winking at Wade as he turned around, silently conveying his message.

The boy named Gaston Yaxley then stepped forward, extended his hand politely, and said, "Hello, Mr. Gray."

Under Michael's slightly nervous gaze, Wade stood up and shook hands: "Hello."

Although the tone was calm, people are naturally more forgiving of talented individuals.

As long as it's not a direct rejection, Slytherin will see it as a friendly gesture.

A faint smile appeared on Yaxley's pale face: "I never expected the inventor of the Book of Friends to be so young. Ravenclaw hasn't had such an outstanding student in many years. Mr. Gray, you are a truly capable and talented person, and you will not be inferior to Tirence Morey in the future. I think you need a bigger stage to fully display your wisdom."

He paused for a moment, then drawled, "The Yaxley family would be happy to offer you some assistance."

Although Pwitt maintained his smile, a hint of jealousy crept across his face.

Michael glanced at him, then his gaze swept over Foley on the other side—the Slytherin's smile was impeccable, revealing nothing of his thoughts.

“Thank you very much for your kindness, it is a great honor,” Wade said politely. “However, I am only an apprentice in alchemy and am far from being comparable to Professor Mori.”

“Of course—Professor Mori’s skill is beyond question, but I admire your future even more.” Yaxley’s words carried an unintentional air of superiority: “Although the alchemy level of the Book of Friends is very basic, many sixth or seventh graders are capable of doing it, but what is more admirable is this ingenious idea—how did you come up with it?”

Wade nodded and said, "Speaking of which, I'm not exactly the first to do this—do you know what the Muggle internet is?"

"—Muggle?" The three men's expressions changed almost simultaneously, as if they had heard some kind of offensive term.

“Yes,” Wade said with a smile, “The core protocol of internet communication is the TCP/IP protocol, which transmits data by segmenting it into data packets. The client sends requests to the server, receives and parses the server's response. The server then returns the processed result to the client. The sequence of instructions and the raw data are processed during the input process…”

Wade politely explained the working principles of computers, then talked about all sorts of random concepts such as the Internet, cloud computing, electronic chips, wide area networks, and data planes. He also rambled on about the future of e-commerce, the deep integration of artificial intelligence and big data, blockchain technology, and digital currency.

Only his voice could be heard in the carriage; everyone else stared blankly, as if they had become bewildered infants. Even some students who had come after hearing the news, hoping to meet Wade Gray, stood at the door, hesitant to enter, as if there were some strange seal binding the place.

When Wade stopped, the three men who had politely refrained from interrupting him immediately got up to leave. Their faces were ashen, as if they had just been through a downpour, and their departing figures even showed a hint of panicked escape.

Theo walked over and closed the door. He noticed that the few people in the corridor hurriedly avoided his sight, as if they were afraid that he would pull them in and start brainwashing them with demonic sounds.

Theo closed the door and locked it with a spell, and the four of them burst into laughter.

Chapter 63 Families, Death Eaters, and the Witchcraft Party

"Fantastic, absolutely fantastic!" Michael exclaimed, giving a thumbs up. "I thought you were going to just shut them down!"

Wade was unaware of when he had instilled this Gryffindor-like impression in him.

“You can tell how vengeful Slytherins are just by looking at Malfoy and Potter.” Wade shrugged, used a spell to muffle the noise in the carriage, then poured himself a glass of water and said, “I don’t want to be bothered by them every day at school.”

Theo nodded: "You're right—Yaxley is a vengeful person, and unlike Malfoy's petty squabbles, he likes to use underhanded methods. Even the Professor has never caught him red-handed—Ryan, you should control your temper."

Ryan pursed his lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and instead asked, "Wade, that Muggle...computer, can it really do that?"

He carefully recalled what Wade had just said, finally managing to extract a small portion that he could barely understand—