Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 112 The First Step Towards Going Bad

After putting his things back in the dorm, Stewart couldn't wait to take his spoils from Honeydukes and dominate the common room, only to find that he wasn't the only one with the same idea.

What was originally a show-off scenario turned into a mutual exchange. Apart from the must-buy Zizzy Bee Candy, everyone's tastes are actually different. Some people prefer more normal candies, while others, like Ike, have no resistance to certain candies.

Bibi Bite Beans, Peppermint, Mottled Tooth Mint, Winter Slug, and even Ice Rat, which is just as disgusting as a pile of cockroaches.

This is absolutely heresy; even Ike thinks that candy like Ice Mouse shouldn't exist in the world.

After playing around for a while, the little wizards headed towards the Great Hall in twos and threes. Although the official Halloween dinner wasn't until tomorrow, today's menu was actually just a few dishes less than usual, serving as a warm-up.

The auditorium was decorated, and the small pumpkin lanterns were already hung up. Only the extra-large pumpkin lanterns that could fit a person inside would be hung up tomorrow, but the atmosphere was already pretty much the same.

The third-graders were the main force in creating the atmosphere. Their day trip to Hogsmeade made them look good in front of the first and second-graders, while the older students seemed much calmer.

Although they weren't much better off back then than they are now.

As a preview of the Halloween dinner, it was undoubtedly a success. Ike, unusually, didn't take out his bag full of cockroaches, but instead had a mint hard candy in his mouth.

It's nice to change things up once in a while.

Instead of going straight back to his dorm, Ike went to the library first. He decided to borrow those basic alchemy books and take another look.

Although the buyer at the Pighead Bar didn't say it explicitly, Ike knew the man didn't think much of his alchemical items. A large portion of those 360 ​​Galleons was thanks to forbidden potions like Polyjuice Potion.

Even if we remove the banned potions, I'm afraid we won't even be able to keep the original cost.

However, Ike took a wrong turn. In a place like the Pighead Bar, you can't sell "normal" alchemical items; they have to be weird, evil, or cursed.

To be honest, those who trade while hiding their identities are not good people, so naturally, black magic items are more popular.

However, Ike doesn't have the energy to research this area right now. Even with the time-tamper, Ike has basically reached his limit.

Potions, Ravenclaw manuscripts, spells, ancient runes, and schoolwork took up almost all of his time, with alchemy taking up the least compared to the others. Ike couldn't afford to abandon other activities that would increase his alchemy progress; those were the most important things at the moment.

Therefore, these basic alchemy books were only read as bedtime stories, and Ike had already learned everything in them during his first-grade summer vacation.

There were still some people in the library; after a quick glance, I noticed most were fifth-grade students. I easily found "The Catalogue of Medieval Alchemy," "Mystic Alchemy," and "Precision, Control, and Change," but I couldn't find "The Complete Guide to Simple Alchemy Crafting Methods" anywhere.

"Good evening, Mrs. Pince, excuse me." Having no other option, Ike had to ask Mrs. Pince for help. "Excuse me, has the 'Complete Guide to Simple Alchemy' been borrowed? I can't find it."

Mrs. Pince glanced at Ike, then flipped through her thick book of borrowing records, and soon found the answer.

"It's been borrowed, and there are still two weeks until the return date."

"Okay, thank you. I need to borrow these books." Ike nodded and handed over the three books he had received.

Ike is very disciplined when borrowing books, and he is always very punctual.

Those in the restricted book section, well, that's another story...

Back in the dormitory, Stuart and the others were still sharing their candies in the common room, and Ike joined in for the first time in a long while. For some reason, he had always been completely powerless against chocolate candies, and in the magical world, chocolate candies were often made into animal shapes.

After everyone subconsciously blocked out the cockroach pile, Ike could only eat a few chocolate frogs.

It's all just a collection of cards, even though Ike's luck in this area is extremely bad. I still remember how miserable it was to eat instant noodles while collecting Water Margin and Investiture of the Gods.

The pain of always being one card short of 108 is truly unbearable.

Amidst the laughter and chatter, Stuart and Terry once again became the center of attention, and no one noticed that Ike had quietly disappeared. At the same time, the door to the Room of Requirement opened.

Rubbing his aching head, Ike headed straight for the kitchen. In his current state, the chocolate frog couldn't save him; only a delicious pineapple pie would.

Instead of encountering Cedric, an unexpected person appeared, judging from the food on the table, they had clearly been eating for a while.

He walked straight over and sat down opposite him, then casually picked up an untouched strawberry pudding.

"I never expected to run into you here, Hermione."

The little witch then noticed someone sitting opposite her. She looked up, somewhat bewildered, her cheeks bulging, clearly stuffed with food.

I glanced subconsciously at the fork in my hand; it was definitely macaroni.

Seeing Hermione stunned, Ike picked up the lemon tea on the table and handed it to her.

"Smooth it down, don't choke."

She took the lemon tea listlessly, took a sip listlessly, chewed a few times listlessly, and after the pasta was gone, Hermione came to her senses.

"Straid!"

"Don't tell anyone about what happened today!"

Ike waved his hand dismissively and called Omi over to tell her about today's extra meal. Then, to Hermione's bewildered surprise, roast beef, mashed potatoes, two sausages, a glass of mango juice, four strawberry puddings, and a pineapple pie appeared on the table.

After giving Hermione two strawberry puddings, Ike immediately began his performance, and the food on the table disappeared at a visible speed, just like a whirlwind.

This is a skill that Ike has mastered recently. Several times he was so engrossed in studying that he missed curfew, forcing him to use the time converter to move forward an hour so he wouldn't have to go to bed hungry.

After all, in everyone's eyes, Ike sleeps in his dorm every night. Of course, whether he's also in the Room of Requirement and the Forbidden Books at the same time is anyone's guess.

It's fair to say that Ike's use of the time-tamper is very regular; an extra hour disrupts his perfectly balanced rhythm. So, after a few such disruptions, Ike unconsciously compressed his time for things like meals, socializing, and entertainment.

There's no need to worry about eating too fast and it being bad for your stomach. Just give me a bottle of magic potion and I'll be fine. This little illness won't bother me at all.

Even though he arrived later, Ike finished the battle first and was happily eating strawberry pudding, which made Hermione feel inexplicably annoyed.

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

Hermione put down her pudding, pointed to her dark circles, and said, "I feel like I'm about to collapse. I'm exhausted every day, and I never get enough sleep! Several times I've even forgotten the class time!"

"But you look perfectly fine!"

"Hehehe..." Ike covered his mouth and laughed for a while before finally stopping under Hermione's murderous glare.

"Listen to me, it's very simple."

"You just need to make a simple plan..."

Shamelessly begging for some votes~

(End of this chapter)