HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

"Meow~~~"

A meow that sounded like it had a nine-twist, eighteen-turn twist interrupted Dexter's resolve. Coupled with the cat's state of lying flat with its belly exposed, accepting being petted, even Dexter, who was prepared to kill anyone who stood in its way, could tell that the cat was being affectionate.

"..." Dexter silently put down his wand.

"Mimi, my little darling~" Layla squatted down and stroked the cat's fur with both hands, happily cuddling it. The annoying cat also fawned over her and snuggled up to her. The two of them rushed towards each other, extremely affectionate.

Finally, someone couldn't stand the sight of the human and cat entangled in this scene any longer and chose to speak up and disrupt it—but it wasn't Dexter.

"Beep—Lady Lorris's current favorability rating is 92%." The system's voice was colder than the knife that had been used to kill fish for ten years at RT-Mart.

"Oh, my little kitty, I love you too~" Leila was completely unaffected, only feeling that the cat snuggling in her arms was even more cuddly.

The system completely ignored Lyra. Unfortunately, it was the system's responsibility to report the characters' affection levels to the player. Players targeted for romance could check their affection levels at any time, while those not targeted could not. However, if someone's affection level with the player exceeded 90%, the system was obligated to report the data to the player.

"Do you like cats?" Dexter couldn't help but ask, trying to draw Lyra's attention back to himself.

"Hmm, all the fluffy things are so cute. Goodbye, Mimi~" After indulging in petting the cat for a while, Lyra finally remembered her original purpose and reluctantly said goodbye to Mrs. Loris.

Soon the two arrived at the underground corridor. Although it was underground, the place was warm and bright, with burning torches and cute portraits everywhere.

Leila walked up to a painting of fruit and gently tickled the green pear in it. The green pear magically wriggled and giggled, as if ticklish, and then suddenly transformed into a green doorknob.

Lyra opened the door and stood in the brightly lit kitchen entrance, her back to the light, but her smile was exceptionally radiant: "Welcome to the most delicious place in Hogwarts~"

*

"How did you know where the kitchen was?" Dexter took a sip of his Earl Grey tea and sighed contentedly.

This is tea reserved for university professors. Normally, the cafeteria tables serve students milk, hot cocoa, pumpkin juice, and various fruit juices. If I hadn't come to the kitchen with Leila today for a special meal, I would rarely get to drink this tea at school.

“I often come here with George Fred and the others. You know, there are a lot of nighttime walks in Gryffindor, and it’s easy to get hungry in the middle of the night.” Lyra gulped down a small red velvet cake.

Before her lay a variety of tempting desserts awaiting her: classic British treats like cream puff pastry, coconut scones, angel food cake, and toffee pudding; and some international desserts that Lyra had mentioned, such as matcha mille-feuille, heavy brownies, strawberry lava mochi, and sea salt cheese mousse...

Dexter, born into a pure-blood family, knew the nature of house-elves—they were always warm, eager, and accommodating towards wizards. But he never expected Lyra to be so favored by the house-elves.

Yes, an obsessive favoritism. The moment they entered the kitchen, Lyra was surrounded by house-elves, each vying for the right to serve her, eagerly bringing out their best desserts, just to hear a word of praise from Lyra. Anyone who received a genuine compliment from Lyra was guaranteed to faint—a classic case of excessive happiness.

Poor Dexter, the young master of the Fosco family, had never been so neglected and slighted in his life, especially by a house-elf. In the end, the house-elf who served Dexter was the smallest of the house-elfs. He lost out in the competition among the many elves and was pushed out, rolling out of the center circle and rolling right to Dexter's feet.

House-elves are not allowed to ignore wizards, and their nature compels this small house-elf to stand up and serve Dexter—while asking him what he would like to eat, he also looks on with envy and jealousy at the other elves who are serving food to Lyra.

Dexter: "..."

He simply ordered a cup of black tea and then let the house-elf "go free".

Dexter was only shocked for a moment before he came to terms with it. After all, Lyra was so adorable, who could resist being fond of her? Even a house-elf would naturally adore her.

But what Dexter didn't know was that the system notification sounds hadn't stopped all along—

"Beep—Lala's current affection level is 90%."

"Beep—Bibi's current favorability rating is 93%."

"Beep—Nana's current favorability rating is 90%."

"Beep—Tata's current favorability rating is 91%."

......

If the system had a physical form, it would be fuming with rage. It's never seen a player as irresponsible as Lyra! Instead of focusing on serious characters, she manages to accumulate a ton of unimportant, high-value affection points! It's infuriating!

"Beep—Warning to players: Don't be lazy, find romanceable characters as soon as possible!" the system screamed in Leila's mind.

"Tongzi, you're easily provoking my rebellious side. For example, tonight I could go and collect Liu's favorability points—" Leila threatened without changing her expression as she ate her dessert.

Instantly, my mind became completely clear.

Lyra took a satisfied sip of her chilled milk. She looked up and noticed that Dexter only had a butter cookie and Earl Grey tea in front of him, so she enthusiastically pushed her dessert toward Dexter.

"This strawberry-filled mochi is absolutely delicious! The sweet and sour strawberries paired with the soft and chewy mochi skin are just perfect."

"Maybe boys don't particularly like things that are too sweet, but you should definitely try this sea salt flavor~"

Dexter simply couldn't refuse Lyra. He tried every recommendation, even though he usually only ate a biscuit with tea at most.

He was the only child in his family, his parents' sole heir. Therefore, he was very calm and composed from a young age, knew how to control himself, never indulged in any form of entertainment, and never craved gluttony.

But this unexpected truancy, like a stolen moment of solitude, allowed Dexter to indulge himself for the first time in his life. Perhaps this was his only chance to be intimate with the dark-haired girl? Thinking of this, Dexter couldn't control his desires.

He wanted to see the dark-haired girl sitting across from him smile, wanted to fulfill all her wishes, wanted to get to know her better, wanted to be closer, even closer...

"Don't move—"

Leila suddenly stared intently at his face, then leaned closer, the distance between them shrinking...

As Dexter watched the barely noticeable mole at the corner of the dark-haired girl's eye become clearer and clearer, his heart pounded faster and faster.