Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 113 The Face-Hugging Bat

"...So this is how you arranged it?"

After hearing Ike's timeline, Hermione was surprised and somewhat frustrated.

The little witch had never submitted to anyone at Hogwarts, but in this respect, she was once again defeated by Ike.

"No wonder. It seems I need to make my own plans too." Hermione made up her mind. Now that she knew Ike's secret, she had to catch up.

She didn't want to lose to Ike again in the final exam.

"Oh, by the way, there's a place I want to take you to see; it's arguably one of the most secluded places in Hogwarts."

"Where?"

"Just follow me. There's still some time before curfew, and we're on the eighth floor anyway, so we still have time."

The two went up to the eighth floor one after the other, and finally stopped in front of the Room of Requirement.

"Just think about the place you want in your mind, then walk back and forth in front of this wall three times, and then..."

As he spoke, he walked back and forth three times in the same manner, and a door with silver patterns slowly appeared on the wall. Ike turned around and glanced at Hermione, who was somewhat dumbfounded, and smiled subconsciously.

Pushing open the door, one enters the room that is "only accessible to Ike Strayder and those he approves of." The room contains a sofa, table, coffee table, fireplace, and a small single bed in the corner, just as Ike left it.

Steam was rising from the crucible on the table, along with scattered metal blocks, several carving knives lying haphazardly, and a thick stack of parchment covered in writing. Several books, the kind that could kill someone by falling on them, were piled on the coffee table and sofa.

Hermione walked over and picked up a book, but the book suddenly came to life, emitting a piercing scream. It opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp teeth, and lunged at Hermione's nose.

Ike quickly waved his hand and sent out a beam of red light that landed on the book, which then quieted down and revealed the title on the cover.

"Take Your Soul? This is from the forbidden section..." Hermione was startled. Even though she knew Ike was very bold, she never expected him to take books from the forbidden section and put them here, and not just one!

Even she only took one book at a time.

Moreover, these are the most dangerous and evil books in the forbidden book section, the darkest of the dark magic.

"Don't make a fuss." Ike plopped down in the chair next to him, snapped his fingers, and two cups of lemon tea appeared on the table. "As long as you don't get caught, it's not considered breaking school rules, have you forgotten?"

"But...but this is...dark magic!"

"The most evil black magic!"

"You didn't see it?" Ike took a sip of lemon tea without even looking up, which silenced Hermione.

Yes, she watched it too.

In fact, almost everyone who manages to sneak into the forbidden book section undetected has read some basic books on black magic, and quite a few have even studied them.

"You should have read 'Hogwarts: A History of the School,' right? You might remember that it mentioned that Hogwarts initially taught dark magic, but that was later discontinued."

"I have always believed that as long as a person has enough self-control, the side effects of black magic can be completely ignored."

"It's never a bad thing to learn more."

Hermione remained silent; intelligent as she was, she knew perfectly well that what Ike said wasn't entirely without merit. Like Dumbledore, universally acknowledged as the most powerful white wizard, but no one would believe he was unaware of dark magic.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore." Ike changed the subject. "How about this Room of Requirement? Isn't it perfect?"

"Indeed." Hermione nodded subconsciously.

"That's good, as long as we stagger our times."

"Change the...time?"

“That’s right!” Ike said. “The Room of Requirement can’t be opened from the outside when someone is inside. So the two of us have to stagger our times.”

"Do you want to?"

Seeing Ike's smile gradually distort, Hermione understood what he was laughing at. She slammed the book in her hand down at him, then stood up and walked out.

"The afternoon is mine!"

He took the book with a smile, and upon hearing the sound from outside the door, Ike couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He knew perfectly well that telling Hermione the secret of the Room of Requirement was essentially the same as telling Harry and Ron, but that wasn't a problem. While the Room of Requirement was arguably the most magical room in Hogwarts Castle, it wasn't exactly a secret.

What only the person knows is a secret, and according to Ike's estimation, there are no fewer than twenty people who know about the Room of Requirement.

What kind of secret is this?!

Tell Hermione that this was something Ike had planned all along, and besides, Ike had never shared anything truly secret with anyone.

For example, the runes and magic circles on the Philosopher's Stone, and Ravenclaw's manuscripts...

Halloween will arrive the next day.

Just like last year, the castle was covered with all sorts of decorations, trying to create a terrifying atmosphere. Early in the morning, Stuart woke Terry and Ike up with a gadget he bought at Zoko's joke shop.

The Facehugger Bat is a small, bat-shaped toy that transforms into a real bat when thrown, grabbing a person's face and emitting a piercing scream that makes them dizzy.

No one noticed yesterday that Stewart had bought this thing, so no one was on guard. Terry was completely dumbfounded and sat on the bed for a long time, unable to recover. But he got the short end of the stick with Ike. The facehugger had barely uttered a sound when Ike smashed it to pieces with a Shattering Spell.

"Ike!" Stuart felt a pang of heartache. This thing was a bit pricey. He had originally planned to scare Morati and the others later, but who would have thought it would be gone just like that.

Rubbing his head, Ike yawned before asking, "What's wrong?"

Stuart: "..."

Forget it, it's not worth getting angry with Ike on such a nice day.

Ike knew exactly what was going on, and casually cast a healing spell to throw the facehugger back at him. Stuart was so frightened that he immediately covered his head and crouched down, but he only felt as if he had been hit by something.

"Don't expect a restoration spell to completely restore this thing. It's already pretty good that it's like this," Ike said. "But when I'm free, I can study it for you. I should be able to make it look the same as before."

"Alright, give it to me when you're done." Stuart tossed the bat doll, now devoid of magic, back. Since Ike said so, he was sure he could do it.

Stuart still believed this.

After all that fuss, Terry was still looking completely wooden. But it was easy to fix; a single healing spell and he was bouncing around again, even chasing after Stuart.

After making a fuss for a while, the three of them finally went to wash up. By the time they were dressed and went out, breakfast had already been going on for quite some time.

Fried eggs, bread, milk—it's all pretty normal, nothing different from usual. If we're really looking for a surprise, we'll have to wait until tonight.

Everyone had already heard that, in addition to the almost certain appearance of the skeleton dance troupe, the ghosts had also prepared a spectacular show, said to be quite grand. Dinner had also changed; at the insistence of an unknown white-bearded wizard, the house-elves altered the millennia-old recipes and started creating their own culinary masterpieces.

Even Ike is looking forward to it; perhaps a food that can rival the cockroach pile will appear.

A bloody battle is planned for tonight, and it looks like it'll be brutal. I'll update now.

(End of this chapter)