A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 409 The Strange Luna

Halloween is almost here, and everyone is very happy.

It was quite a coincidence that Halloween Eve fell on a weekend, which was also the day we went to Hogsmeade.

They could spend the whole day having fun in Hogsmeade before attending the dinner party. The itinerary was simply perfect.

The third-grade students were incredibly excited, as this was their first time visiting Hogsmeade Village.

So much so that on Friday, despite the long hours of class, the classroom was still noisy during the ancient magic spelling session.

The students were all asking William to give them a guide to Hogsmeade.

Faced with a group of wildly unrestrained little witches, William was so pestered that he had no choice but to reluctantly and openly spend time with them.

"Promise me you will never go to Madame Parth's Tea House."

"Why? I heard that's a favorite spot for happy couples!" Pansy glanced at Malfoy furtively.

The other female students chuckled softly, lost in their own thoughts.

Malfoy was oblivious to Pansy's gaze; he was seriously considering whether Potter could go to Hogsmeade.

It seems he's going to be put in solitary confinement by Professor McGonagall.

"Yes, I must admit, Mrs. Patif is a master of manipulation, very good at understanding people's psychology," William laughed.

This statement was clearly spread by Madame Parthoff to encourage everyone to go there for their dates.

Besides, what kind of clueless couple would love to go to a teahouse?

Madame Patif's teahouse was not only small, but also decorated with tacky things like bows and pink wallpaper, and had a strong perfume.

A date should be romantic and private. The pungent smell of cheap perfume and the surrounding students kissing... this is really not a good place for a date.

There was absolutely no enjoyment involved.

If I had to put it another way, Madame Patif's Tea House was like a movie theater.

Surely no one actually chooses the movie theater for every date, right? Really?!

Can't you come up with something original?

Don't always choose such boring places, as if there's nowhere else in the world besides the movie theater.

Going directly to a hotel is more romantic than going to the movie theater.

Please forgive me.

William is just that straightforward.

"I heard that the owner of Pig Head Bar secretly sells high-proof liquor to students?" Simon asked, raising his hand.

William laughed: "Can't you guys get your hands on high-proof whiskey while you're at school?"

Everyone burst into laughter, and many people even whistled.

"What if I don't have a female companion?" Dean Thomas asked loudly.

"Very good question." William snapped his fingers and winked. "Remember, being single now is just to accumulate experience for your future single life."

The students booed loudly.

"William, are you going to Hogsmeade?" Daphne asked, staring at William.

"Of course, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

"May I invite you?" she asked boldly, standing up.

Many girls in the classroom were staring at William.

Since the first class, many students have re-enrolled in this course, or come here to audit classes when they have free time.

They weren't passionate about ancient magical texts; they simply wanted to "piggyback" on William's fame.

He's like a human router; a bunch of girls want to get the password to connect to him.

For example, Daphne didn't originally choose Ancient Magic Runes, but that didn't stop her from skipping class specifically to attend this course.

Anyway, it's just a little rubbing... nothing bad will happen.

William reluctantly raised his hand in surrender, saying, "Miss Greengrass, I already have a date, so please don't invite me anymore."

"Is it Granger?" Dean Thomas asked.

Hermione, her ears burning red, lowered her head and pretended to flip through the book.

William smiled and said, "Please pay more attention to the classmates around you, such as Mr. Thomas who doesn't have a female companion."

Dean puffed out his chest, looking like he was always ready to serve.

"Him... I'd rather date Myrtle," Daphne said dismissively.

William glanced sideways.

Daphne's disregard was tinged with contempt, and her words were essentially the same as, "I might as well just find a pencil and do it myself."

That's so hurtful to someone's self-esteem.

Dean might fall for a simple-minded boy because of this kind of overwhelming advantage.

For example, his roommates, Harry, Ron, and Neville, are all nice.

"Alright, let's get back to the lesson... I was just talking about 'Algiz'." William clapped his hands.

"It represents the elk, whose antlers symbolize courage, strength, and aggression. Here, we'll show you something different."

William pulled a Wizard's Chess piece from the safety box—the Black Queen.

The chess piece came to life as soon as it landed on the ground, drew its stone sword, and searched for its white knight captive, intending to drag it into a corner to deal with it.

"This is Professor McGonagall's masterpiece. I had to beg her several times before I was able to borrow it."

"It contains the 'Algjz' rune, which increases attack power," William explained.

This wizard chess piece is a miniature version of the school's armored guards, which Professor McGonagall made herself.

She made a batch two years ago and placed it in the restricted area on the fourth floor to serve as a large wizard chess level.

William also secretly took some, but he disassembled them for research.

Last school year, after magical creatures attacked Hogwarts Castle, Professor McGonagall couldn't resist the urge to make another batch.

William demonstrated for everyone and said with a smile, "These guards are now stationed in the Gryffindor common room."

"What would happen if we forced our way into the Gryffindor common room?" Seamus asked, raising his hand.

"You'll be surrounded and attacked. Whether you die or not is unknown, but the outcome will definitely be terrible," William said with a smile. "Everyone is welcome to try it out on Halloween night."

Everyone immediately shook their heads.

Stop joking.

People will die!

Only a fool would attack the Gryffindor common room.

William put away the Black Queen, clapped his hands, and said:

"This paper is about the application of offensive runes."

A piece of parchment, with small font, narrow spacing, and rich content.

I don't want to see a piece of parchment where someone can write a thousand densely packed words, while someone else... only writes fifty words.

I also don't want people to repeat the same sentence four or five times in different forms just to pad the word count.

You think you're lowering the plagiarism rate?!

William glanced at Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe.

"If there's a next time, I'll just give you a 'T'."

"There's a T?" Hermione, the good student who always got an 'O', couldn't help but look up in surprise.

"It means troll." William winked at Hermione.

When the bell rang, he tidied himself up and headed outside.

Hermione ignored the murderous glares from the other girls, quickly packed her things, and chased after William.

"I'll stay up all night tonight and hand in my paper to you," Hermione said, carrying her books as she walked down the corridor.

"There's no need to rush, there's a week."

William avoided the students coming and going, and led Hermione down a secluded corridor.

"I have a ton of homework to do," Hermione said dramatically.

"Professor McGonagall asked for two parchments; Professor Snape's antidote; and Professor Lupin... Once I finish writing tonight, I can have some fun tomorrow."

"Or I can write it for you?" William suggested. "Like that Muggle research paper on 'How to Get to the Sun'."

"No, I want to do all my homework myself..." Hermione glared at William, speechless. "Fine, fine, you write this one, just this one!"

William laughed out loud.

Professor Bubbaje always enjoys tackling human problems... Last time he was researching the perpetual motion machine, and now he's set his sights on "ascending to the sun."

"There are still plenty," William said. "Looks like I'll be sleeping in the Room of Requirement again tonight."

Hermione has a lot of homework to do every day, and in order to catch up, she also has to do pre-reading. Every night she also has to do combat training and help William process various potion ingredients.

There simply isn't enough time.

The two spent almost every night in the library. After the library closed, they would use the time converter to go back to evening and enter the Room of Requirement to study.

If I'm too busy, I'll just go to sleep at the Requirement Room around 11 p.m.

Instead, I went back to the dormitory less and less often.

Therefore, Hermione is simply a devil; with such hard work, it's only natural that she excels.

Hermione smiled and, seeing that no one was around, reached out and gently took William's arm.

The two turned the corner and walked toward the corridor where the fat lady was, and saw someone posting notices on the bulletin board on the wall ahead.

William glanced at it and saw that it was Luna.

"Hello," Luna said vaguely, glancing at the two of them before walking over from the bulletin board.

Hermione, like a wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, tried to pull her hand back because of her shyness, but William grabbed it directly.

"Luna, have you lost something again?" William asked.

Luna's personality was strange; even many of Ravenclaw's students thought she was odd and called her Crazy Girl Lovegood.

Luna once had her things thrown at her by her roommates, and Anne took Ginny to Ravenclaw and caused a scene, warning them not to bully her.

Such incidents gradually decreased.

"Oh, I didn't lose anything. Annie's big black dog is missing. I think she's very upset. Maybe someone saw it, so I'm posting notices," Luna said calmly.

William glanced at the bulletin board, where a lost dog notice was indeed pinned up.

Ask anyone who sees you to provide clues, and the reward is a collector's edition of "Singing the Dissent".

That reward... I doubt only Cedric would be interested.

"Where did Annie go? I haven't seen her." Hermione asked.

"I'm with Ginny," Luna said after thinking for a moment. "I'll go find them later. Do you two want to come?"

William and Hermione both shook their heads. They were both avoiding Anne, who had been pestering them for days, wanting to go to Hogsmeade.

"William," Luna said suddenly after a moment of silence.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something," she said, scrutinizing William with her strangely bulging, half-closed eyes.

"If you promised your best friend you wouldn't tell anyone else, but you feel you should tell others... what would you do in this situation?"

"I won't say anything now, since I've already agreed," William said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Luna nodded. "There's something I want to tell you."

"What?"

"I promised not to tell, so I'm sorry."

"..."

Why bring this up if you're not going to say anything? Aren't you just deliberately trying to pique William's curiosity?

Sure enough, Luna was eccentric.

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(End of this chapter)