HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

"Harry~" Lyra smiled and waved to Harry.

But Harry forced a stiff smile in response to Lyra.

“Harry, this is Dexter Forsco,” Lyra introduced the two enthusiastically, “the top student in Ravenclaw and also the top student in Hogwarts.”

Harry gave a curt nod to the blue-eyed Ravenclaw; blue was his least favorite color, bar none.

“This is Harry Potter, our Gryffindor’s best Seeker!” Lyra said to Dexter with pride.

"Hello," Dexter greeted politely.

“I was writing my potion paper by myself, and I never expected to run into Dexter here—” Lyra said excitedly. “I couldn’t remember the dosage of a few herbs, and I was too lazy to go back to the Leaky Cauldron to get the book. I was hesitating when I ran into Dexter.”

"I'm so lucky to have the top student in my grade as my private tutor!"

Harry felt like a few bugs had flown into his stomach as he listened to Lyra's effusive praise of Ravenclaw.

"Lyra, this is for you." Harry unwrapped the newly bought stationery package and handed the pink quill to Lyra.

He had planned to apologize to Lyra on the way—for getting too engrossed in watching the Firebolt. But with this Ravenclaw boy around, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

That's incredibly stupid. Who would want to act foolishly in front of the smartest Ravenclaw, especially the top student in their year? Hmph, if this Ravenclaw were in the same year as him, Hermione would definitely beat him and become the top student.

Harry muttered to himself.

“Oh, thank you, this pink quill is so pretty,” Lyra said. “You’re writing a paper too, right? You can ask Dexter any questions you have.”

Harry was planning to write a thesis on the history of magic, but the person he wanted to consult wasn't Ravenclaw.

“No need, I can handle it myself,” Harry refused without even thinking.

"What do you want to eat? I'll go buy some ice cream—" Harry changed the subject.

Leila: "Thank you, but no need, we've already ordered."

Harry walked into the ice cream shop looking dejected. The owner recognized him as Harry Potter and gave him a free peanut butter ice cream, which cheered him up a bit.

But looking out from inside the store, he saw the dark-haired girl and the blue-eyed Ravenclaw chatting and laughing, which annoyed him. He wished someone would appear and interrupt their conversation.

For example, Fred or George might suddenly appear and throw a dung beetle at this Ravenclaw's nose; perhaps Angelina and Arya, out shopping, would happen to pass by and join in the conversation, ruining their romantic time; or Hermione might be carrying a thick book, discussing homework with this Ravenclaw honor student...

Wait a minute, even though these people can't be there in person, he can come by himself!

Harry suddenly realized that he could imitate Hermione and keep asking Ravenclaw questions, going through all the relevant questions about the history of magic paper from beginning to end. That way, Lyra wouldn't disturb their studies and would go on to write her own paper!

I shouldn't have refused such a wonderful offer from Lyra.

Harry, who thought his plan was perfect, hurriedly finished his ice cream, grabbed a large roll of parchment, and charged toward the blue-eyed Ravenclaw with a cold smile.

"Excuse me, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you about the history of magic..."

Harry's plan was well-designed, but he hadn't anticipated that an obstacle would suddenly appear in his path—

"Harry, this is strawberry cream ice cream, it's free, it's on me." The ice cream shop owner, Florin, appeared enthusiastically after Harry asked two questions.

"Oh, you're working on a thesis on the history of magic. Coincidentally, I'm very familiar with the history of the fourteenth century—" Before Harry could react, his boss had already pulled him to another table and was listening to the other man's long-winded account of history.

"...The basic magic of freezing flames prevents the wizard from being burned by the flames; this spell will cause the flames to produce only a mild, tingling sensation..."

"It is said that... given the historical context of that time... we can make comparisons both horizontally and vertically..."

"The burning of witches is actually... documented to indicate..."

Harry listened numbly to Florin's private remarks, who would have guessed that Florin happened to have extensive knowledge of medieval witch-burning?

Even though Florin provided Harry with a free box of ice cream every half hour, Harry couldn't be happy.

He listened to Florin's story in a daze, then glanced at the handsome men and beautiful women chatting and laughing enthusiastically beside him.

"Aren't they a perfect match?" Florin suddenly stopped his rambling and turned to look at the two of them with Harry.

"?" Harry's mind didn't quite process it for a moment.

“That girl is really pretty, I bet she’s very popular at school,” Florin chuckled. “Dexter is a lucky lad, to stumble upon such a good opportunity while visiting me—”

"To see you...?" Harry felt like his head was filled with rambling thoughts.

“Oh, didn’t I say? Dexter is my nephew—” Florin proudly introduced, “the finest boy in our Fosco family.”

"..."

Harry mechanically looked up at the ice cream shop sign he hadn't noticed before—

Fosco ice cream.

“So don’t disturb their time alone,” Florin said with a smile. “I’ll go get you another chocolate ice cream, Harry, it’s on me, no refusals—”

"..." Harry felt that the reeds had not only taken over his brain, but had also begun to take over his entire body, and his whole body was gradually turning into reeds.

*

Time flies.

Harry and Lyra have almost finished buying their school supplies. They've been to the robe shop, the stationery store, and the pharmacy, and they've stocked up on all sorts of medicines.

Of course, he didn't really want to go to the ice cream shop.

While buying textbooks at the bookstore, Lyra looked with great interest at Harry's textbook for the next semester's Magical Creatures class—"The Monster Book of Monsters."

The daily life of the monster books is very exciting: all the monster books are locked in a large iron cage by the bookstore owner. They are constantly tearing each other apart. Often, two monster books will work together to grab a third one and cruelly tear it to shreds.

The bookstore owner nearly cried when he saw Harry and Lyra looking at monster books in front of the iron cage after they entered—he thought the two had come to buy such vicious textbooks.

“Wait,” Harry hurriedly explained, “I already have this book.”

“I was just curious and wanted to see,” Leila added.

"Thank God, I've been bitten countless times already," the bookstore owner said with a relieved expression.

Harry was led by the shopkeeper to buy other textbooks. He turned his head unintentionally and saw a book called "The Book of Death Omens". The cover had a huge black dog staring at him with shining eyes.

Harry felt that the dog looked strangely familiar.