The Silent Bookstore Manager at Hogwarts

Hermione Granger felt her life at Hogwarts wasn't going well. In fact, she didn't think she had done anything wrong. Shouldn't she have lost fewer points if she wanted to win the House Cup? Why didn't everyone care about what she said correctly, and some even seemed to dislike her?

Hermione was confused. It seemed that her roommates were all having trouble getting along with her, so she could only go to the library alone to try to sort out her feelings by reading.

Then she saw the figure in the library who seemed to have been there almost every time school started. Of course, what intrigued Hermione was not that Red was almost always in the library, but that Red almost never looked at any books about courses, and rarely even touched books about spells and spellcasting techniques.

Hermione occasionally saw the titles of the books Red had chosen, which were mostly historical or biographical works, leading her to believe that Red was just killing time at the library.

"Voldemort... Voldemort? Should I recognize that name?"

Red softly uttered the name, and unsurprisingly, there was no response. After confirming the absurd claim that uttering the name would bring a curse, he put the books back on the shelf and then walked deeper into the library without hesitation.

Hogwarts also has a restricted book section, not only because the knowledge recorded in certain books should not be disseminated casually, but also because these wizards like to do some fancy things with books as a medium.

"Look at me! Look at me!!! I'm the book you've been looking for!!!"

A book emanating a dark aura tried to float up in front of Red to promote itself, but just as it was about to continue boasting about its merits, Red glanced at it, and with just one glance, the book listlessly lay back on the bookshelf, even squeezing out other books placed on the same shelf, hiding itself in the deepest part.

Red walked silently among the bookshelves. Many of the seemingly sentient forbidden books appeared to be trembling. They didn't understand what kind of monster was hiding beneath the human body they saw, and they didn't even know what that monster was looking for.

"The Taboo Application of Transfiguration... You're the one."

Just as Red was about to touch the book, footsteps sounded beside him, hurried but not anxious. It was clear that the owner of the footsteps was not in a good mood. Red quietly retreated to the gap between the bookshelves. Like a large black bat, Snape walked among the bookshelves, seemingly searching for something.

Red retreated silently without making a sound. Now that he had found his target, there was no need for him to be anxious. Rather, he needed to think about how to deal with the restrictions on the forbidden books. Hogwarts had indeed placed many restrictions on the books they deemed high-risk to ensure that their contents would not be circulated freely. At least without a professor's recommendation, the Hogwarts librarians would certainly not help Red break through these restrictions.

Red smoothly retreated from the restricted section and returned to his seat, looking as if he had just gone to the toilet. In fact, Hermione thought so too. After realizing that she couldn't concentrate on studying at all, she simply started observing everyone in the library. To be honest, Hermione genuinely felt that she hadn't done anything wrong, but she didn't know why she was being isolated by Gryffindor.

Harry walked in, his face pale. Although he looked as weak as someone recovering from a serious illness, his steps were so steady that one might mistake him for a machine. Harry quietly sat down opposite Red and spoke in a low voice.

"Sorry, I had a weird dream... When I woke up, I felt like I had been beaten up and couldn't get out of bed, so I rested for a while longer."

"Can you tell me what you dreamed about?"

Red closed his book; he had finished his studies for the day. If he really needed to do something right now, it was to test whether he could use his soul essence to cast multiple spells. Combinations of spells were often much more useful than single spells.

Harry recounted what he had seen truthfully: the white bull, the sun covered in wounds, the light that seemed to freeze him to death—everything left such a deep impression on him that as he spoke, Harry subconsciously rubbed his arms as if to warm them.

"Ah... perhaps it's the lingering scent of Solomon? But why you?"

Red asked in confusion, unable to see what was wrong with Harry. Perhaps it was because Red himself had not yet fully mastered the soul power belonging to the immortals and could only use a portion of it.

"I don't know, but now I feel like I'm really... a little better? Like I've lifted some weight off my shoulders."

Harry touched the scar on his forehead, which, as always, radiated a faint warmth, reminding him that he was still under the protection of the "Commandment of the Scar".

"Also, about that lens you mentioned... I think I've made it."

Harry took out a small piece of glass, the light refracted by it had an unpleasant quality. Red nodded. Harry's talent for making things was indeed quite good. It seemed that Harry's talent in practice was much better than his talent in theory. Therefore, Red thought that Harry could be guided to become a practical person as much as possible in the future.

"In that case... how about replacing one of your glasses lenses?"

Harry was taken aback by Red's suggestion, but then a smile crept onto his face. In any well-lit environment, the light refracted by the [Tilde Lens] would surely distract the enemy for a short time, and the outcome might be decided in that instant. Harry understood Red's meaning almost instantly.

"Next... Harry, shall we go check out the Forbidden Forest?"

Red mentioned the Forbidden Forest, and to make sure no strange people would interrupt their conversation, he also paid special attention to Hermione, who seemed to be trying to eavesdrop. It was obvious that Hermione hadn't heard what Red was saying at all.

"Huh? Why?"

"Harry... Hunting is also one of the things the Colonel praises; hunting monsters is one of the hunter's duties," Red explained.

"Of course, more importantly, we can't always practice together. You need to build up some experience... fighting against non-humans."