Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 98 September 30st

As the start of the school year approaches, the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley are gradually becoming more crowded.

Taking advantage of the free time after finishing the orders for St. Mungo's Hospital of Magical Injuries, Ike went out for a few days, a rare occurrence. He ran into many familiar faces, mostly people buying textbooks for the new school year. Occasionally, some would appear at the Bouncing & Playing Magical Joke Shop, mostly first and second graders; older students were rarely seen there.

Apart from those energetic little lion cubs.

Two things were the same as Ike remembered: Harry had once again blown up his aunt like a balloon, moving into the Leaky Cauldron early on. However, Ike was in the final stages of his seclusion when Harry moved in, so the two never met.

The second thing is Sirius's escape from prison.

To be honest, Ike didn't want to have too much contact with Harry. Putting aside past impressions, just a few interactions between the two made Ike feel from the bottom of his heart that Harry was a real troublemaker.

Harry isn't very receptive to advice; preconceived notions are more important to him. This is a common trait among Gryffindors; most of them have a stubborn streak.

More importantly, Harry isn't a very good secret-keeper, and given his status as a "walking Horcrux," it's entirely possible that Voldemort will extract some secrets about him from his mind when he returns.

Ike still values ​​his status as Voldemort's student. At least until he gets his hands on Voldemort's magical knowledge and the treasure from the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin, Ike won't turn against Voldemort.

It might even offer a little help in some aspects.

The OWLs exam consists of twelve courses. Besides the compulsory courses of Potions, History of Magic, Astronomy, Herbalism, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration, the other five are Divination, Arithmetic Divination, Magical Creatures Conservation, Ancient Runes Studies, and Muggle Studies. Of these, Ike doesn't plan to devote too much energy to Magical Creatures Conservation and Muggle Studies; with his current level, he could guarantee an O even if he took the exam immediately.

Ancient runes were something Ike had always studied, a subject that required some effort. What truly demanded Ike's attention were the two subjects traditionally considered easy points by students: Divination and Arithmetic Divination.

In the magical world, divination has always been something even more mysterious than magic itself. What can be predicted will inevitably happen, no matter what variables arise in the process.

Just as the famous "savior" prophesied, the Dark Lord clearly wanted to struggle after knowing this, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned in the end.

Ike really wanted to learn divination because of the existence of the Waste Notebook system. As long as the divination level could be displayed, Ike could raise it to at least LV6. At that point, he could consciously make up for his shortcomings through divination.

As for the established nature of the prophecies in the magical world, Ike firmly believed that with the protection of the great gods of all realms, this would have no effect on him.

Unchangeable?

Pure nonsense.

The only thing that worried Ike was whether divination could display a level, indicating whether it was a talent or a skill. If it was a skill, that would be great; if it was a talent, there was no need to panic, as there was always arithmetic divination as a fallback.

Although arithmetic divination can only be considered a substitute.

Previewing is a good habit. Ike had read all five elective textbooks before the semester started, using them as bedtime reading. As he expected, except for the two divination courses, none of the others exceeded Ike's existing knowledge; in fact, his research into ancient runes was even more in-depth. The textbook for the Magical Creatures Protection course, besides *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*, which had been in use since 1927, also included *The Monster Book of Monsters*, a textbook assigned by Hagrid. After comparing them, Ike could only say that Hagrid truly lived up to his name.

Aside from being fun, "The Yokai Book" is utterly worthless.

On August 30th, Ike slept in for once, not emerging from his room until almost 10 a.m. After a quick wash, he sat alone in the lobby of the Leaky Cauldron to enjoy brunch.

The pancakes were as unpalatable as ever, but they were incredibly filling; one piece was enough to fill a thirteen or fourteen-year-old up.

Arriving at Diagon Alley, Ike planned to search for treasures at the junkyard, and then head to Florin's Ice Cream Parlor for his favorite vanilla and strawberry combo, to quietly while away the day.

The junk shop seemed to have more stuff now, but as always, there were no surprises. Ike randomly picked up a copy of "The Complete Book of Famous Wizards, Volume Three" and headed straight for Florin's Ice Cream Shop.

Mr. Florin Fusco still remembered Ike, after all, not every little wizard could afford to buy an ice cream tub the size of his head to hug and eat, and in recent years only Ike had done so.

Sitting by the window, flipping through "The Complete Book of Famous Wizarding Deeds, Volume 3" while munching on ice cream, I felt incredibly content. I even bumped into Stuart and the others, who were all shopping for things to do in the new school year; we just exchanged a few words and greetings. I did talk to Harry a bit more, but it was mostly Harry talking while Ike listened.

Even though more than two months had passed, Harry was still excited about Lockhart's fate and told Ike a lot of bad things about the former celebrity who was now imprisoned in Azkaban, interspersed with a lot of praise for Dumbledore.

What could Ike do? He could only offer a few perfunctory replies.

Harry clearly didn't know about Sirius Black, even though the wanted posters were plastered everywhere. Ike had no intention of explaining things to Harry; he'd leave that to Mr. Weasley.

Just like I once told Comrade Deng, he was neither a savior's nanny nor a follower.

Before long, the easy problems were dealt with, the difficult ones came along.

Hermione's expression was quite subtle, a mixture of three parts wariness, three parts curiosity, three parts confusion, and one part closeness. She held an ice cream cone, taking a bite every now and then without saying a word, just staring straight at Ike, making Ike feel uneasy.

The effect of the Forgetfulness Curse is not permanent and may break on its own under certain conditions. Moreover, Ike's Forgetfulness Curse was only at level 3 at the time, making it even more unreliable.

Judging from Hermione's current state, she has clearly remembered something, but she can't tell whether it's a dream, a figment of her imagination, or a curse of forgetting.

She could only be certain that this matter was related to Ike.

"Did you do something to me?"

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Ike choked, coughing for a long time before he could catch his breath. Hermione, seeing Ike's reaction, became even more certain that what had happened to her was related to him. Her initial confusion turned into anger, making her look like a lioness with her mane standing on end.

"Ike Streid!"

"You'd better tell the truth!"

(End of this chapter)