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

"Keep up the good work, Wade!" Fred gave him a thumbs up. "You've got talent."

Wade didn't want to know what the "talent" he was talking about was... He always felt that the twins had some misunderstanding about him.

"Separate left and right!"

Wade found the statue of the hunchbacked witch, recited the spell, and the hunchback of the statue immediately opened, creating enough space for him to walk in.

But standing at the entrance, looking at the dark passage, Vader ultimately chose to restore the statue once again.

Why would someone have to sneak out of school against the rules?

Wade suddenly had this idea.

Gryffindor would see this as a great adventure, but in his view, such behavior that increases one's own risk is actually undesirable.

He did need to see Remus Lupin, and perhaps also Marchionne, but the secret passage was only a backup plan. He could use it to leave the school only if the proper means failed.

Several professors flashed through my mind, finally settling on Professor Morrie's kind smile.

It wasn't just because Professor Murray cared for and appreciated him, but also because this professor didn't take rules and discipline too seriously.

While Hogwarts doesn't officially allow access to the Floo Network, he connected his office fireplace to it (though Dumbledore certainly knew this).

Legally, it's not allowed to connect a fireplace in a non-magical household to the Floo Network, but he still secretly had someone set it up.

Many of those who have the same status and prestige as Professor Murray gradually become moral exemplars and embodiments of rules as they age (even if only superficially), but Professor Murray will roll up his sleeves and personally negotiate with merchants, haggling over every penny.

Therefore, Professor Murray is the most likely person to make an exception and allow him to leave the school.

……

"Snapped!"

The familiar soft sound made Wade turn his head immediately. He thought it would be one of Phil and the others, but it turned out to be a house-elf he didn't recognize.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Wade Gray." The elf bowed deeply.

“You are—” Wade’s fingers subtly gripped his wand as he glanced at the elf’s head: “McGee? Good afternoon, MacGee.”

The little elf stared in surprise, its already enormous eyes, as big as tennis balls, becoming even more prominent, and tears quickly welled up in its eyes.

“Wade Grey actually remembered Mackey’s name? Mackey is just a house-elf, less noticeable than dust, and Wade Grey actually remembered his name? He even said good afternoon to Mackey? No wizard has ever said good afternoon to Mackey—no wizard has ever remembered Mackey’s name—”

The little elf burst into tears.

Wade sighed, squatted down, and said to him, "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

“No—no—how could Wade Gray be wrong? He’s just like Zoe said…a very, very great wizard…just as Zoe said—” McKee cried.

“That’s an exaggeration. I’m not great at all.” Wade pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it to him, saying, “If you keep crying, you might attract attention!”

"A good house-elf is one that is not discovered by wizards"—this idea was like a moral law imprinted in the minds of house-elves, and Mackey's crying immediately subsided and gradually stopped after a while.

“I remember Zoe saying you were researching how to make those candies?” Wade asked tentatively. “Did you come to me because your research has yielded results?”

"Yes—yes—Wade Grey will see candy on the table tonight—"

McGee sobbed, “But—no—McGee didn’t come for that—McGee came to warn Wade Gray—”

"A warning?" Wade was taken aback. "What warning are you giving me?"

"McGee was cleaning in Slytherin when he overheard some students saying—that they wanted to teach Wade Grey a lesson—while he was practicing potions—"

McGee finished speaking with great difficulty, then froze, as if he couldn't believe what he had just done. He then shuddered and slammed his head against the wall, yelling, "Bad McGee! Bad McGee!"

"Wait, McGee!" Wade grabbed her, stopping her from banging her head against the wall. "What are you doing, McGee?"

“McGee is punishing himself—McGee is so wicked—for revealing the little wizard’s secret—” MacGee said, tears welling in his eyes, “But Wade Gray needs to know—someone has ill intentions towards him—McGee…McGee wants to tell Wade Gray who it is, but MacGee can’t say their names…”

As he was talking, he tried to bang his head against the wall again, but Wade quickly stopped him, saying, "Wait! You were protecting me, remember? You didn't reveal any secrets; you protected a student who was about to be in danger. You don't need to be punished for that!"

"Is—is that so?" McKee asked, bewildered.

“Of course.” Wade nodded firmly and emphatically.

McGee hesitated and stopped struggling, tilting his head as if he were in some kind of confusion.

Wade said softly, “Listen to me, McKee—thank you for punishing yourself to protect me from misfortune… Protecting others and sacrificing yourself is a very noble act, full of love and responsibility, and it is the meaning and value of life. There is absolutely no reason to be punished for it.”

McGee stared at him blankly.

After a long while, he bowed deeply, his nose touching the ground.

“Wade Gray must be careful—McGee cannot tolerate any harm to Wade Gray…”

After saying that, he disappeared from the spot with a "snap" while carrying the dirty tissue.

Chapter 83 Badge, Approval

Wade took note of McGee's warning, but it wasn't something he needed to think about right now.

He used to practice potions in the Potions classroom whenever he had free time, and he was probably seen by Slytherin students a few times. But they didn't know that since the Room of Requirement was discovered, Vader had rarely gone there.

As for who those people were, Wade naturally knew.

He decided to leave them hanging for a few days, but not too long—if too long, the Slytherins might give up on their own.

After class on Thursday, Wade went to the Astronomy Tower to see Professor Morrie as usual, and unexpectedly ran into a few seventh-grade students on the way. They were much taller, but they all looked dejected, which made them seem shorter for some reason.

A girl was telling the person next to her, "I'm going to kill Jennifer! She used to tell me that alchemy class was fun and Professor Morrie wasn't demanding—and she calls that not demanding?"

“Professor Murray used to be really easy to talk to! Remember when we were in sixth grade?” Another student sighed and said, “It’s just that this year the professor took on a new student, and suddenly he doesn’t like us anymore—he used to like me a lot.”

The girl in front of me said resentfully, "Teaching runes on your own in first grade? That's insane! If we weren't all at school, I would have thought it was a lie!"

One student lamented, "Why doesn't he spend more time on Quidditch?"

"Has anyone here studied the Book of Friends?" a boy suddenly asked.

"I tried."

"It's hard."

"There's no way to crack it."

"Using a transformation spell to generate heat or display characters is simple, but to simultaneously display complex text or even pictures on a fragile material like parchment, while ignoring spatial distance, is a bit..."

The boy was speaking at length when someone suddenly nudged his arm, and his voice came to an abrupt halt.

At the corner of the corridor, the group suddenly encountered Wade.

The two sides stared at each other. Seeing Wade Gray still acting like a child, and recalling what they had just said, they were all extremely embarrassed. After a moment of silence, they nodded stiffly and passed each other.

The voices didn't sound again until quite a distance had been walked.

"—That's Wade Gray?"

"Yes."

"—She's...quite good-looking."

"Ah."

"...He probably didn't hear me, right?"

"—I heard that, I guess."

"Ugh... Why did you have to tell me! Couldn't you have just lied to me?"

"Stop shaking... I really want to die right now... really."

……

"Huh?" Professor Mori looked at Wade and asked in confusion, "You seem a little different today?"

Wade smiled and asked, "Professor, what do you think is different about me?"

“It seems there really is a change… Hmm…” Professor Morrie stroked his chin, scrutinizing Wade for a long while before saying uncertainly, “He seems… to have become more handsome than before? But it’s not the effect of the Beauty Potion…”

Wade smiled and took a badge off his chest.

Instantly, the visual effect of his fair and flawless skin, which seemed to have a faint glow, disappeared. Even though his features were still delicate and his appearance was handsome, he no longer shone as brightly as before, drawing people's attention to him.

"Oh?"

Professor Morrie took the badge in his hand with great interest to examine it—the work that Vader had shown the professor naturally did not have any anti-detection spells applied to it.

“Light-emitting spell…reflection spell…and curing spell…” Professor Mori looked at Wade with a smile in his eyes: “You used light?”

“Yes,” Wade said. “As you know, I’ve been taking a lot of photos lately. In the process, I’ve discovered that the core of photography is the use of light—the proper use of light can conceal facial imperfections, make you look thinner, highlight the three-dimensionality of your facial contours, and make you look better. So I created this soft-light badge, which can reflect just the right amount of light onto the wearer, making them look more…dazzling.”

In short, it's a wizard version of a beauty filter.

“You always have amazing and ingenious ideas,” Professor Morrie praised. “Many people need to drink a beauty potion to achieve a twenty-minute effect, but you’ve accomplished that with just a small badge—how long does this thing last?”

“About ten days,” Wade said.

“That’s not bad.” Professor Morrie didn’t take such a small thing too seriously, and said casually, “Some silly young girls will like it—are you planning to continue having Machione’s magic workshop produce and sell them?”

“Yes.” Wade took out his application to go to Hogsmeade from his pocket and said frankly, “Actually, I came here today to ask the professor for permission to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday. I need to meet with Mr. Marchionne to discuss the revisions to the Book of Friends and the production of the Softlight Badges.”

"Just for this?" Professor Morrie was a little skeptical.

During this time, he also got to know Wade quite well—given Wade's personality, he would never come to him specifically to apply for special permission to resolve issues that could be resolved through correspondence.

“Uh…actually, there’s someone else I want to see.” Wade said somewhat embarrassedly, “You know, I’m at school, so a lot of things aren’t convenient for me. My father isn’t suited to dealing with wizards frequently either, and I’m worried he might get into danger. So I found an agent—I’m planning to meet with him this Saturday.”