A certain broken Hogwarts

Chapter 14 Let's play cards!

After the astronomy class, most of the young wizards, having spent the whole day in class, were not in the mood to do their homework. After saying "goodnight" to each other, they went back to their dormitories.

Having just finished petting the cat, Irving returned to his dorm in a cheerful mood, where all three of his roommates were.

"Owen, what did you just find?" Draco asked lazily as he rummaged through his backpack.

"A cat," Owen said, putting his backpack on the table. "You might not know, but I've always wanted to have a cat."

"Do you think I'll believe you?" Draco's gray eyes glanced over. "Isn't your pet a rabbit? To be honest, those clumsy and fragile animals are easily snatched and eaten by other creatures at Hogwarts... By the way, where has your rabbit been lately?"

"I'm getting old," Owen said casually. And currently, he's experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions, constantly jumping back and forth in his walled-in space.

"Oh, that's a good thing for it. It won't have to live in fear all the time. It's a very wise choice." Draco didn't seem to think that this topic might make the rabbit's owner uncomfortable at all, and spoke the truth in a slow, deliberate tone.

Owen gave him a half-smile, not at all angry. He knew Draco's intention wasn't to poke at him, but rather that he genuinely didn't think a rabbit was a big deal, and assumed everyone else felt the same way. In short, he had low emotional intelligence, wasn't good at communicating, and, well, lacked the harsh realities of life.

Draco pulled a large bag of candy from his backpack and tossed it onto the round table in the middle of the dorm room. He raised his chin and said, "My mom always likes to send me a ton of candy, but she never remembers that I can't possibly eat that much. You can take these or I'll just throw them away."

The slipknot on the candy bag came undone, revealing that it was filled with chocolate frogs, sizzling honey candies, and frankincense nougat, as well as toad-shaped cream mints and beautifully crafted sugar quill pens. Many of these candies were exclusive to Bee Duke and were quite expensive.

"Actually, you just need to give them to Crabbe and Goyle, and I'm sure not a single one of them will be wasted." Theodore Nott, sitting at the round table, put down the magic playing cards in his hand, chuckled, and took a sugar quill pen to suck on.

"I don't want them to get any fatter," Draco said slowly, glaring at him. "They're already big enough."

"Oh, thanks." Harry, who was frowning and pondering his Transfiguration notes, looked up, popped a chocolate frog into his mouth, and looked at the Agriba chocolate frog card in his hand with great interest, feeling much lighter.

Draco couldn't help but smile, saying smugly, "I've already collected several sets of these cards. If you want, I can give you one."

"Don't you know the most fun part of collecting Chocolate Frog cards is the process of collecting them?" Theodore teased. He and Draco had been friends before they enrolled in school—after all, their fathers had once worked for the same boss—so he didn't mince words.

"Is that your reason for not having collected the whole set yet?" Draco retorted without hesitation.

Irving sat down at the round table, picked up some honey candy, and casually remarked, "Eating candy at night can cause cavities, lead to obesity, and is bad for your health..."

Before he could finish speaking, several people looked at him and said in unison, "If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"

After uttering those words, Theodore first turned to look at Harry, then quickly lowered his eyes and looked away.

Theodore was a loner, and apart from Draco and Blaise, whom he knew before enrolling, he maintained a distant relationship with most people. Especially with Harry Potter, perhaps because his father was a Death Eater, he always acted aloof, neither offending nor getting close, which represented the attitude of a minority in Slytherin towards Harry.

Owen blinked, took Theodore's magic playing cards, the pictures on them moving around very actively, flashing with colorful light and shadow effects, looking extremely gorgeous.

Under the astonished gazes of the three young wizards, Owen demonstrated a dazzling shuffling technique. The playing cards seemed to come alive, leaping and dancing in his hands, unfolding and merging seamlessly as a tightly connected whole, appearing fluid, elegant, and aesthetically pleasing.

"Want to play cards?" Owen smiled mysteriously, snapping his hands shut with a snap. The cards he had shuffled for ages were actually in perfect order.

"OK!"

Twenty minutes later, the three young wizards stared blankly at Owen; they hadn't won a single hand. Seeing Owen start shuffling the cards again, the three quickly shook their heads and said, "No more playing, no more playing, it's time to sleep!"

"I suspect your cards will change," Draco said, looking at Owen with suspicion. "My luck can't be that bad!"

"Although my cards can prevent wizards from cheating to some extent, but..." Theodore said with a serious expression.

"Uh, Transfiguration?" Harry had a flash of inspiration and felt he had found the truth.

Owen tossed the cards onto the table, shaking his head with amusement. "Why do you all always think so negatively of people? Do you think I'm the kind of person who uses magic while playing cards?"

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, flicked his fingers, and the playing card that had been hidden in his palm appeared between his two fingers as if it had appeared out of thin air. Then he flicked his finger again, and the card he was holding instantly changed from the Jack of Hearts to the Ace of Spades. Finally, Irving flicked his finger, and the card disappeared completely.

Then, he casually moved his fingers, and Harry's Chocolate Frog card appeared out of thin air in his hand again. He flicked the card onto the table, and it turned into a little ace.

Irving showed everyone his empty hands, then shrugged, blinked his smiling, dark eyes, and said, "Unfortunately, my hands are too small; there are many tricks I can't do."

Although there's a high probability that the three young wizards wouldn't be able to see through his magic tricks even if he used them, a qualified magician should never go on stage knowing that his magic has flaws. Yes, that's very important.

At this moment, the cards he had thrown on the table began to whine. The King of Hearts, who had always been trying to tattle, jumped up, covered his mouth which was red from Owen's pinch, and cried out with tears in his eyes, "He cheated!"

"Well, I knew you were secretly using magic!" Draco jumped up first, followed closely by Harry. The two held down Owen, who was trying to slip away, and rummaged through his magic props, scattering them everywhere.

Theodore watched this scene with his arms crossed, then picked up the cards on the table with some doubt, suspecting he had bought counterfeit cards. He took out his wand and chanted a spell on the King of Hearts. The King card roared angrily and exploded with a "boom," turning Theodore's pale cheeks black with soot.

"Okay, it really does prevent cheating..." Theodore exhaled a puff of black smoke and rolled his eyes, sporting an afro.

After a period of commotion, the dorm finally returned to peace with Irving's smiling apology.

Outside the window, a giant squid swayed its enormous tentacles in the lake water, and a single eye with wavy pupils flashed by.

The little wizards, tired from playing, climbed into their beds and fell asleep.

(End of this chapter)