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

Wade hesitated for a moment and said, "If we can successfully learn the Stunning Charm by next Friday, then you and I, along with Michael and Ryan, can have a... well, club activity every few Saturdays."

Theo asked in surprise, "Just the four of us?"

"Yes, it's just the four of us."

Wade said definitively, then added, "The event itself isn't exactly a pleasant one... but you can choose not to participate if you don't want to."

"……I see."

Theo's expression turned serious; he sensed the hesitation in Wade's heart.

He both wanted them to travel together and wanted to exclude them.

Theo smiled easily: "No matter what they say, I'm definitely going... Will there be any danger?"

“The danger isn’t now,” Wade said. “It’s in the future…and it involves that guy whose name I can’t even mention.”

Theo was startled: "The mysterious man... he's infiltrated the school again?"

“Not really,” Wade said. “If all goes well, we might not even need to do anything.”

"You've piqued my curiosity so much... Can't you tell me more about it?"

"Some secrets can't be spoken, whether now or in the future..."

……

Back in his dorm, Wade saw a whole coconut on the table and burst out laughing.

Coconut water is sweet, thirst-quenching, and nutritious. Zoe and the others probably felt he needed to replenish his nutrients quickly.

He drank water, washed up, and went to sleep; exhaustion quickly put him into a deep sleep.

In the following days, SSC began learning the Stunning Charm. Theo and the others seemed to work exceptionally hard, and Harry always stayed until the very end.

However, he did this because only in the Umbrella House could he be sure he would never run into Lockhart and Colin Crevy.

The new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, always unilaterally assumed that Harry craved attention just like him, and every word he said made Harry so embarrassed that he wanted to disappear into the ground.

Colin Crevey would "bump into" Harry several times a day and always try to take pictures of him. This kind of stalking-like flattery was extremely uncomfortable.

Therefore, he always spent most of his time in the umbrella house to get some peace and quiet.

Michael asked Wade privately, "Why don't we call Harry? You know, he... well... burned the Man of Darkness to ashes with ease."

"No need. Even if he is a boy who survived a great ordeal, it's not a good thing for him to have frequent contact with that guy."

Wade glossed over the question, saying instead, "If you're too scared to use that name, how about a code name?"

"—Code name?"

“How about calling him Tom?” Wade asked.

"Tom? The owner of the Leaky Cauldron?"

Michael had a sudden inspiration and said, "Actually, you mean that Muggle cartoon, 'Tom and Jerry'? I've secretly watched some of it..."

He extended his own associations.

"That guy is like Tom, strong but always getting outsmarted by the little mouse; and we're like Jerry... uh... Jerry?"

Michael hesitated for a moment.

Ravenclaw calls himself an "eagle," but he certainly doesn't see himself as a little mouse.

But then Michael thought that Voldemort was just like a blue cat who always failed, and he realized that the Jerry Mouse analogy wasn't so bad after all.

He projected his imagined terrifying image of the Dark Lord onto Talking Tom, and, connecting it to the storyline, burst out laughing.

Wade smiled too.

He excluded Harry from the very beginning.

After all, this time, they were not facing Voldemort himself, but merely a Horcrux.

These kinds of things are best resolved quietly.

If Harry is brought in as well, the resurrected Voldemort might be able to access this information from Harry's mind, unnecessarily increasing the fatal risk for everyone.

He just wanted his friends to know what he was doing and to offer help if necessary, not to lead them to their deaths.

……

A week passed quickly, and on Monday and Wednesday, Wade was put in solitary confinement twice more by Professor Sprout.

Confinement is actually a punishment for violating school rules, not a reward.

So during the two subsequent periods of confinement, Professor Sprout spent one hour teaching and the other hour doing chores.

Fertilizing, transplanting, pest control, pollination...

After one period of confinement, Wade benefited greatly, but was also exhausted and suffered from back pain.

On his way back to the castle, he heard Malfoy's voice: "I'm not a servant! If my father finds out you dared to make me do this, he'll kick you out of school!"

Chapter 134 Destroying the Crown

Filch's sinister voice rang out: "Either work or get fired. You can choose one."

The sound came from an empty room.

Through the slightly ajar door, Wade saw Malfoy glaring angrily at Filch. After a brief standoff, Malfoy finally picked up a rag and began wiping the countless candlesticks on the shelf.

Filch continued grumbling, "If you ask me, Dumbledore is too lenient. For rule-breakers like you, you should be hung up and whipped a few times..."

Wade walked through the dimly lit corridor and left.

……

Saturday arrived quickly.

Wade had already contacted Lupin in advance. In the morning, before the other students had gotten up, he brought Michael to the Room of Requirement.

A short while later, Theo and Ryan also arrived.

Then there's Zoe.

Michael and the others were amazed to see a house-elf here and kept staring at her.

Zoe awkwardly crumpled her tea towel and bowed to everyone.

“If you’re ready, let’s go.” Wade opened the cabinet door: “Who’s first?”

“I’ll go!” Michael went in first.

Then it's Theo and Ryan.

Wade stayed behind last. He crouched down and said to the little elf, "Zoe, wait until I send you a message, then open the cabinet door, okay?"

The Vanishing Cabinet requires no additional incantation; simply closing the cabinet door initiates the teleportation.

However, to get out, someone has to open the cabinet door from the outside; the people inside cannot open the cabinet door from the inside.

Therefore, the prerequisite for using this cabinet is that there must be a reliable person guarding the destination side to open the cabinet door when needed.

Zoe nodded and said softly, "Wade Gray, don't worry, Zoe will definitely complete the mission."

Wade smiled and patted her head.

"You don't need to stay here the whole time. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be back before curfew. I'll send you a message in my friend's account beforehand."

“Okay.” Zoe nodded.

Wade stepped into the cabinet, closed the door, and was plunged into darkness.

Almost the next second, the cabinet door was opened again, and Lupin stood outside, smiling at him.

“Unbelievable!” Michael said. “We just left the school so easily.”

"Where is this?" Ryan asked, looking around in confusion.

"This place is still in the Scottish Highlands, two mountains away from Hogwarts."

Lupin said to Wade, "As you requested, there are no wizards, no Muggles, and hardly any vegetation or animals nearby."

Wade also looked around and nodded slightly.

This is a desolate and rugged mountain, covered with boulders and only a few mosses and weeds.

“Wade, what are we doing here?” Michael asked.

Wade looked at everyone, who were all waiting for his answer.

"Tom... also known as the mysterious man... everyone knows that he hacked into the school last year."

Seeing Theo and the others nod silently, Wade said, "I found something at the school... possibly a dark magic weapon he left behind."

"Our purpose in coming here is to destroy it."

"Voldemort's secret weapon?" Lupin frowned. "He's trying to sabotage Hogwarts too?"

He was not afraid to call Voldemort by his name, but the three young wizards all turned pale.

"Why not leave it to Professor Dumbledore to handle, Wade?" Ryan asked. "Don't you...trust the Headmaster?"

"Of course not... When it comes to fighting darkness, probably no one is more trustworthy than Dumbledore."