153: The Four Returning From Study

When Lyon returned to the Marvel world, only sixteen minutes had passed.

He stood in the training grounds of Kamar-Taj, briefly checking his own condition and the items he had brought back.

Inside his Inner World, the Time Stone and Space Stone, which had reverted to mere gemstones after he entered the Harry Potter world, had resumed their normal functioning.

However, the Time-Turner he brought back had lost its effect.

Hmm..

Clearly, a time-manipulation device from an alternate world had no control over Marvel's timeline.

Even the Resurrection Stone had become useless.

Originally, it could summon the souls of the dead, allowing them to exist in a state between spirit and illusion.

But in the Marvel world, all souls belonged to either a Hell Lord or Death herself.

Thinking a mere stone could steal souls from such entities and manifest them into reality was wishful thinking.

However, some of the other miscellaneous magical items he had brought back were still functional.

For example, one of the Deathly Hallows—the Elder Wand.

Dumbledore had given it to him as a farewell gift, returning the favor after Wong had gifted him an artifact from Kamar-Taj.

Dumbledore had insisted on finding something of equal value in exchange. To thank them for getting rid of Voldemort, he had no choice but to leave the Deathly Hallows with Kamar-Taj.

But these artifacts were just as useless to Lyon.

So, he stuffed all the magical items into a suitcase enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, planning to let Mordo deal with them when he returned.

Then, Lyon activated his traversal ability again, locking onto a point half a year after his last departure from the Harry Potter world—

And once again, he crossed through dimensions.

A few seconds later, Lyon reappeared in the training grounds, this time accompanied by four figures dressed in wizard robes.

"Finally back! It's only been half a year, but it feels like I've lived an entire lifetime," Wong said, hands on his hips.

"So you guys had quite the eventful time, huh?" Lyon's lips curled into a subtle smirk.

When he had arrived back at Hogwarts—Tony and the others had been taking the O.W.L. exams, specifically arranged for them by the Ministry of Magic.

This all traced back to what had happened six months ago—As a gesture of gratitude for helping defeat Voldemort—The Hogwarts professors had organized a special magical exchange program for the four of them.

Though called an "exchange program," in reality, it had been one-sided tutoring.

Since their exchange period had been set at only half a year, their daily schedules had been completely packed with lessons.

But the results had been just as rewarding.

In just six months, they had learned the equivalent of five years of a young wizard's education.

Upon hearing this, the Ministry of Magic decided to take advantage of the situation, and organized a special "graduation exam" just for them.

The moment the exams ended, the four of them received their results.

Tony and Banner had aced every subject, earning the highest grade—Outstanding (O)—across the board.

Ironically, it was Wong and Mordo—the ones who had originally been actual sorcerers who struggled the most.

Although they still received high marks in most subjects,

They barely scraped a Passing (A) in Potions and Divination.

Recalling the moment those two saw their scores and the way their faces twisted as they looked at Tony and Banner—Lyon could easily imagine it.

For six months, these two archmages had desperately tried to keep up with the two scientific geniuses.

Only to end up sighing in defeat.

And that wasn't the only thing.

It turned out that over the past six months, Tony had spent most of his class time researching Transfiguration and Bloodline Elixirs.

For all the other subjects, he had merely skimmed through the lessons during class.

Meanwhile, Banner had developed a deep fascination with magical creatures.

Whenever he had free time, he would leave the school to search for them.

One professor even described how, on a certain day, Banner had transformed into Hulk, traveled to the southern mountains, and fought a herd of Graphorns.

After the battle, the entire Graphorn family's habitat had been destroyed, and the creatures had vanished without a trace.

So, in reality, neither of them had put much effort into their magic studies.

They had spent the past six months in a learn-as-you-go, have-fun-while-you-can approach.

Wong and Mordo, however, were completely different.

They had practically lived in the professors' offices from morning till night.

Sometimes, they even studied until the stars were high in the sky.

Yet despite all their hard work, they still couldn't achieve Outstanding (O) scores across the board.

Meanwhile, the two guys who looked like they were just having fun every day had received a perfect O in every subject.

How could Wong and Mordo not feel miserable about this?

"Don't bring it up…" Upon hearing Lyon's question, the two fell into a long silence.

Then, they both let out a deep sigh. "If we had a chance to do it over again… we'd never go back to Hogwarts."

That was what they said.

But in reality, there was no way they would pass up an opportunity to learn new magic.

It was just that… trying to cram five years' worth of knowledge into six months had felt like military boot camp, but for magic.

Wong sighed. "I never took China's college entrance exams, but I think I just made up for it."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," Tony smirked, draping an arm over both of their shoulders. "Honestly, I thought it was pretty easy. Hogwarts has a great learning atmosphere. Kinda reminded me of my PhD days at Cambridge."

He tilted his head back slightly. "Back then, all the girls wore short skirts. You could see their youthful, energetic thighs reflected in the lake's surface. If Hogwarts were like that—sigh.. But all the witches there are too young, so I didn't get the chance to chat with any of them properly."

Wong rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but we didn't see anything like that. The only woman we saw during those six months was Professor McGonagall."

"Actually, there was also Professor Trelawney and Professor Sprout," Mordo added blankly. "Wong probably just blocked them out and only remembered McGonagall."

The rest of the group immediately let out a collective "Oh~" and turned to look at Wong.

"You only remembered Professor McGonagall? I mean, I admit she's still got a certain charm to her, but Wong, don't you think this is a bit…?" Lyon deliberately dragged out his words.

Wong's face turned bright red. "I was just giving an example! An example! What the hell is wrong with you people!?"

Even Banner, usually the serious one, chimed in, "McGonagall is an Animagus. She can turn into a cat. I do know that some guys—like Wong—tend to have a thing for women like that."

"Ohhh~ now it all makes sense!"

"Pfft

Bahahahahaha!"

The other four burst into laughter, bending over, barely able to breathe.

"You—you guys!!"

Wong pointed at the group, trying to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.

He wasn't angry, really—he just couldn't think of a good comeback, which only made his face turn even redder.

"Alright, alright, let's stop here. If we keep this up, Wong might actually sneak into our rooms tonight and hit us with the Killing Curse." Lyon laughed, raising a hand to calm things down.

Wong snorted but took the out. "You better watch your backs tonight!"

Lyon patted his shoulder. "Alright then, let's get serious—tell me about what you guys gained from these past six months. We're still counting on the four of you for that battle in four months."

"Just us four?" Mordo raised an eyebrow. "Are we doing a best-of-five match?"

"Yes, it's five matches, and think about it, if all four of you win, do we even need the fifth round?" Lyon spread his hands.

"Wait, I have a question—our opponents are gods, right?" Banner raised his hand. "We've only learned some magic. Can we really beat gods?"

"Gods? They're just long-lived beings who are way stronger than regular people. Believe in yourselves—you guys are already incredibly powerful!"

Lyon lightly smacked Banner's chest with the back of his hand. "Especially you, Banner. That big guy inside you? If you let him out, no one from the younger generation of Asgardians could take you down."

"But… if possible, I'd rather rely on my own strength," Banner muttered, scratching his cheek.

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