HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Lyra stopped very close to Dexter, reached out and gently wiped the corner of his mouth.

Dexter felt a soft touch on her cheek. Her fingertips were slightly cold from touching the chilled milk, but Dexter felt her cheek burning, as if her fingertips had lightly touched her and ignited a spark that burned all the way to her heart.

"You have cream on the corner of your mouth."

"Th-thank you," Dexter said with difficulty. He suddenly felt a little short of breath; the fire ignited in his chest by the black-haired girl was still burning, and his heart was burning.

But Lyra seemed completely oblivious to Dexter's odd behavior. Earlier, she had been pressing the system for the name of the blue-eyed boy, but when the two of them were having snacks alone together, she had plenty of opportunities to ask, yet she didn't seem to be in a hurry to find out.

"..." The system thought it might be better to upgrade and hibernate for a while.

The desserts were almost finished, and Lyra packed up all the untouched cakes to take home. The house-elves were all in tears; if Dexter hadn't known the whole story, he would have thought it was a scene of life and death.

But Lyra was used to the exaggerated excitement and sentimentality of house-elves, so she handled this farewell scene with remarkable ease. She skillfully comforted the elf, and as soon as the bell rang, she nimbly got up and left.

The two said goodbye at the kitchen door. Leila took a few steps, then suddenly turned back and smiled brightly at the blue-eyed boy who was still standing there silently watching the black-haired girl leave: "I hope I'll know your name next time we meet."

After saying that, she left with light steps.

Little did he know how much regret, struggle, and anticipation he left behind the blue-eyed boy.

*

"You actually ran away by yourself!"

"They didn't invite us—"

"But he went to the kitchen for snacks with a Ravenclaw—"

"Prioritizing romance over friendship!"

Just as Lyra had predicted, the red-haired twins heard that Lyra had run off with a Ravenclaw boy she didn't know in the middle of class. Even though the two of them had been having a great time in the chaotic class, they acted as if they were heartbroken and indignant at being betrayed by a friend.

But she already had a solution – she took out the snacks that had been packed in the kitchen.

“Look, Fred likes crème brûlée~ George likes lemon squares~” Lyra accurately grasped their preferences.

"George prefers crème brûlée—"

"Fred prefers lemon cubes—"

The two of them, as usual, tried to mislead each other, denying their own tastes but their bodies betrayed them by reaching for the pastries.

“In that case,” Lyra said with a grin, pretending to snatch the snacks back, “I’ll give them to Harry and Ron then—”

The twins responded by swallowing the dessert whole, giving Leila no chance to back out.

Then Lyra watched with glee as Fred choked and rolled his eyes, while George patted him on the back with what seemed like brotherly affection—a pat that was hard enough to kill a bison. After Fred had completely swallowed the pudding, he turned and pounced on George, and the two began their daily love-hate relationship.

In fact, without the help of a system to cheat, even Lyra couldn't guarantee that she could accurately distinguish between Fred and George every second at the beginning.

But no two leaves in the world are exactly alike. Even twins don't always have the same preferences. There will always be times when their tastes differ subtly, even if their parents and family haven't noticed.

Leila and the twins were best friends for three years, laughing and playing together. But these subtle differences were as clear to Leila as the sea and fireworks.

The twins could also sense the subtle differences in how Leila treated them. Although they never admitted it, all three of them knew it in their hearts.

This is a tacit understanding unique to the three of them.

"Guys, I've found the perfect experimental subject." Having had her fill of the sibling rivalry, Lyra changed the subject. "Come with me tonight!"

Sure enough, the twins' attention was successfully diverted. The three of them discussed their route for tonight's night tour as they walked towards the auditorium.

*

Lyra, having eaten too many desserts earlier, sat at the Gryffindor table, slowly munching on a single serving of ice cream. She overheard Harry, Harry, and the other two sitting to her left discussing Lockhart.

“Aside from bragging, Lockhart didn’t actually teach anyone anything in this lesson,” Harry complained.

“You missed something,” Ron added, cutting a kidney pie, “He didn’t just leave everyone empty-handed; he caused them a lot of trouble. Everyone’s bags and textbooks were thrown out the window, and Neville spent the entire period on the chandelier—”

“He just wants to give everyone more opportunities to practice,” Hermione strongly defended Lockhart. “Maybe he just hasn’t figured out the students’ level yet, after all, he’s done so many amazing things.”

"Ugh—" Harry and Ron made vomiting gestures as they were out of Hermione's sight.

Lyra couldn't help but chuckle, which caught Hermione's attention.

"Lyra, you also had Lockhart's class this morning. Does he teach more advanced classes for the upperclassmen?" Hermione asked Lyra eagerly. After spending the summer together, Hermione and Lyra had become quite familiar with each other.

“Oh, darling, I really can’t bear to ruin a young girl’s idol worship,” Lyra hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth. “Lockhart is no different in our classes. You can’t believe him just because his novels are good. Let’s just say he’s a good-looking good-for-nothing.”

“Yes, he’s a complete idiot,” Fred on the right joined their conversation.

"If you ask me, it's probably because Defense Against the Dark Arts was so short of teachers that Dumbledore had to use Lockhart as a substitute." George's analysis was quite rational.

Hermione was greatly disappointed at failing to secure an ally. However, Lockhart, who persisted in writing so many remarkable works, was simply misunderstood.

"He's just not used to being a teacher yet! He's been on adventures all this time, and he's a very powerful wizard!"

"Ugh—" Everyone who heard Hermione's explanation couldn't help but make a vomiting gesture.

After lunch, the twins spent the entire afternoon trying to find out from Lyra what the so-called "perfect experimental material" was, but Lyra kept it a secret.

As night fell and the lights were turned off, the three of them slipped out of the castle without a sound. Lyra led the way, taking the twins past the greenhouse, across the vegetable garden, and across a large lawn—

A giant willow tree appeared before the red-haired twins.