Luna

Before, the Young Wizards used to avoid Hagrid's vegetable patch, but now it had become the students' favorite spot, collectively dubbed the Game Arena.

Hagrid's greatest joy each day also transformed into acting as a referee for the survival game. He'd sit on a high stool, and almost every game offered him sights that left him in stitches.

The professors at school would also frequently come to sit here, partly to enjoy the spectacle, and partly to prevent students from suffering any serious injuries.

When Wade wasn't around, the professors could use the Engorgement Charm and Confundus Charm in his place, making the enlarged insects "hunt down" the students.

However, some students simply couldn't stand insects, and a new game mode quickly emerged—

Students would randomly divide into black and white teams by drawing lots, then engage in a confrontation. This way, whether there were two or three people, or thirty or forty, everyone could play.

Dumbledore even personally added a small magic to the Game Arena: after students were sorted into teams, their robes would automatically turn white or black.

He also wanted to join in and lead a team himself, but was "tactfully" rejected by the students unanimously.

Despite professors repeatedly emphasizing that Dark Curses were not allowed between opposing sides in the Game Arena, there were always students who secretly broke the rules, leading to deductions of points and detention, one after another.

The punishments weren't the usual lines or processing Potions ingredients; students who violated rules in the Game Arena faced the tasks they most dreaded.

Like cleaning toilets.

Like being forbidden from using their Wand to mix fertilizer.

And the most severe — being banned from the Game Arena, with durations ranging from three days to an entire semester.

Some students weren't afraid of dirty and tiring work, but they absolutely refused to be excluded from the most popular activity in the entire school.

After several rule-breaking students were severely punished in this way, everyone finally understood what boundaries meant.

Even so, almost every day a few students were sent to the Hospital Wing, mostly for scraped heads or broken arms from falling off pumpkins.

For a Wizard, as long as it wasn't Dark Magic damage, a simple bone fracture could be healed in minutes, no more troublesome than a cold.

But more students were sent to the Hospital Wing in one day than in a whole week previously, leaving Madam Pomfrey constantly busy, applying to the Headmaster three times a day to close the Game Arena.

Dumbledore always smilingly brushed her off.

Wade, who initiated this game, didn't dare show his face to Madam Pomfrey for a long time.

Some time later, when he revisited the Game Arena, he found that it had undergone tremendous changes.

First, only about half of the giant pumpkins remained in the vegetable patch, and they had been hollowed out, allowing two or three people to sit inside, like small houses.

The other half of the pumpkins had been harvested and piled up behind Hagrid's hut.

"These are for Halloween," Hagrid explained to Wade. "If the kids damage them too much, they won't be able to be carved into proper shapes."

As he spoke, he used a massive knife to dig out the damaged parts from the pumpkins, scooping out the pulp inside, making the hollowed-out pumpkins resemble giant lanterns.

To fill the empty spaces left by the removed pumpkins, Professor McGonagall moved statues and suits of armor from the castle to the Game Arena.

They would occasionally walk around, and sometimes suddenly stick out a foot, tripping passing students.

Michael once took a face-plant because of this, spitting out dirt from his mouth. Afterwards, he pondered for a long time, then asked:

"Wade, do you think they're trying to mess with us themselves, or did Professor McGonagall make them do it?"

"How is that possible?" Hermione immediately retorted on behalf of her Head of House. "Professor McGonagall would never do that."

"That's not necessarily true," Wade said. "Think about it, what's Professor McGonagall's Animagus?"

Harry: "A cat?"

Ryan thought for a moment, then said seriously, "I have a cat at home, and it always likes to push jars off the table."

The few of them exchanged glances, and recalling Professor McGonagall's stern face, immediately fell silent, resolving to keep these conjectures to themselves.

The next day in Transfiguration Class, Professor McGonagall suddenly stared at a giggling Harry and asked with a stern face, "Mr. Potter, do you have a question about the content of this lesson?"

Harry stood up flustered: "Cat... no, no... Professor!"

Professor McGonagall stared deeply at him, like a large feline predator eyeing its prey.

"I... I actually wanted to ask..." Harry's mind raced as he stammered, "Animagus... how do you practice that kind of magic?"

"It's too early for you to be thinking about such things, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said, clearly displeased.

Hermione bravely raised her hand.

"But we all want to know, Professor... er, this magic must be very difficult, right? I heard only seven people in the 20th century could do it, and you're one of them..."

The students all looked at Professor McGonagall with curiosity and admiration.

The witch coughed. "Alright, since you all want to know, I'll briefly explain..."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down at the professor's signal, then gave Hermione a grateful look.

"Animagus is a magic that allows a Wizard to transform into an animal. However, one cannot transform into just any animal, nor into a magical creature."

Professor McGonagall said, "The animal transformed into is generally related to the Wizard's personality and weight. If practiced improperly, one might not be able to transform back into a normal human, so this is a very dangerous Transfiguration magic..."

So it really is related to personality!

Several students simultaneously thought the same thing, feeling as though they had just rediscovered their Head of House.

...

After Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout also added some things to the Game Arena.

For example, pea pods that shoot beans, half-human-tall Whomping Willows, young Devil's Snares, and seemingly safe, harmless, and even beautiful Hallucinogenic Mushrooms, among others...

Their harm was restricted to a very limited range, but they would still give the students a hard time.

In addition, at the headmaster's instruction, the House-elves brought in many old tables, chairs, shelves, broken stone sculptures, and so on, arranging the Game Arena like a maze.

For this, the area of the venue was more than doubled.

Soon after, a notice was posted on the bulletin board in the Entrance Hall—

"A dueling club?" Michael said with great interest. "Is Professor Flitwick teaching it? He was a dueling champion when he was young!"

If I could learn a few tricks from Professor Flitwick, would I be able to defeat Wade?

"I hope so," Wade said. "But I haven't heard the professor mention it."

He had even gone to Professor Flitwick's office yesterday with a question; if the professor had such a plan, he would have at least hinted at it... right?

In the original plot, this club was hosted by Lockhart.

I wonder if this time, Professor Flitwick will be inspired by the Game Arena and decide to teach his dueling experience to the students?

...

However, it turned out that he didn't.

After dinner, the one who appeared in the Great Hall was still the smiling Gilderoy Lockhart.

Snape stood beside him, completely shrouded in shadow.

The long tables in the Great Hall were gone, replaced by a half-human-tall stage.

Lockhart spread his arms on the stage and loudly said, "Welcome, children! I'm delighted to see almost the entire school has come. Your enthusiasm for learning deeply moves me..."

Michael muttered in disappointment, "If you're so moved, can you give Professor Flitwick back to us?"

After a month, apart from a few girls who had fangirl filters, almost everyone could see what kind of person this professor truly was.

He was less a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and more a drama teacher.

In every class, Lockhart was enthusiastic about having students act out scenes from his books, and he would spend at least thirty minutes recounting his bravery and greatness.

But when asked about professional knowledge, he would start to stammer and change the subject.

Michael had also been dragged up to perform as a Werewolf and a Yeti, which he considered the shame of his life.

"I just remembered, Lockhart never made you act out his scripts, did he?" Michael asked Wade. "How did you manage that?"

"Notice-Me-Not Charm," Wade whispered. "If you want to learn it, I'll teach you next time."

"Don't wait for next time, let's go to the Umbrella Room now. We won't learn anything useful from Lockhart anyway."

"Wait a moment." Wade lifted his chin, gesturing towards Snape. "Professor Snape is here too... He wouldn't be here for no reason."

As they spoke, Lockhart on stage also pointed to the black-robed Wizard.

"Professor Snape is our assistant, and he has generously agreed to help me with a small demonstration before class... Of course, don't worry, I'll return your Potions professor to you completely unharmed!"

He said with a triumphant smile, while Snape stared intently at his back.

The students instantly grew excited.

"Whoa—"

Michael, who had been about to leave, immediately twisted his body back, watching Lockhart with schadenfreude.

"I'm starting to admire this professor now... He's really brave, isn't he?"

Neville covered his mouth in horror: "How dare he?"

"He probably thinks... Professor Snape is just a frail technician, right?"

Wade guessed Lockhart's thoughts.

Snape always wore wide robes, walking like a black bat with outstretched wings, but in reality, he was very thin.

Ignoring that terrible expression, he indeed gave off a feeling of frailty.

But magical ability wasn't about muscles.

The two professors demonstrated a duel on stage: they faced each other, bowed (Snape merely gave a slight nod), and raised their Wands.

Lockhart continued to babble, "Watch my etiquette, children... You've been too crude in the escape game. A true Wizard duel is very elegant and swift."

"We'll count to three, and then in just an instant, your Potions professor will lose his Wand..."

"One... two... three..."

*BANG*, Lockhart flew off the stage, hit the wall, then slid to the ground, his Wand also flying away.

The Slytherin students cheered, and Wade and Michael applauded along with them.

"Let's go, there's nothing left to see."

As Lockhart shakily got up, Wade glanced at Harry not far away and said to Michael.

Currently, no "Heir of Slytherin attacking students" incident had occurred at school, so even if Harry accidentally revealed Parseltongue, he wouldn't be considered an enemy of the entire school.

Of course, after so much training, Harry would no longer only think of using Parseltongue to fend off a snake when facing one.

The two squeezed through the bustling crowd and met Theo and Ryan halfway, who then joined them.

"Don't listen to Lockhart's nonsense," Wade told his companions. "In a real fight, no one's going to foolishly bow to you. If you can ambush, ambush. If you can't, dodge first and protect yourself."

"Only when there's a vast difference in strength is there room for elegance and grace."

Theo couldn't help but recall the scene where Wade defeated the Werewolf and Dark Wizard.

Wade had shown no intention of revealing his capabilities until those two fell.

It was the same in the escape game.

From the start, Wade wouldn't foolishly stand face-to-face like them and then cast a Spell at his opponent.

And... he always won.

Theo pondered this.

...

The Umbrella Room activities still ended right at Curfew.

Michael and the others returned to their respective common rooms, while Wade went to the Room of Requirement.

He first went to the room for hiding things and found it indeed much emptier. The tables and cabinets in the Game Arena likely came from here.

Then he switched to the room for brewing Potions. In several Cauldrons, various Potions were bubbling away.

In Potions Class, most of the Potions they learned could be completed within a single class, some even in just over ten minutes.

However, advanced Potions often required a long time.

For example, Veritaserum took about a month; Polyjuice Potion also took a month; and Felix Felicis required six months.

Fortunately, except for necessary stages, the Cauldron didn't require constant supervision; magic kept the flames burning continuously and steadily.

After checking all his Potions and seeing how late it was, Wade used Accio to summon his Broom, flew through the corridor window, and landed directly on the roof of the Ravenclaw Tower.

The Eagle Door Knocker gently asked, "What is too much for two, but just right for one?"

"A secret," Wade replied.

The common room door opened. After he entered, he found someone else still in the common room.

A girl, curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace wearing pajamas, was sound asleep.

She had been covered by a blanket, but now most of it had slipped off, revealing her lower legs and bare feet.

Wade casually waved his Wand, and the blanket flew up to cover the girl.

The process was very light and made no sound, but the girl woke up.

A golden-brown head stirred under the blanket, then she sleepily looked up.

The girl had pale skin, faint eyebrows, and striking, prominent silver eyes, as if she were very surprised.

Wade, who had been about to return to his common room, stopped.

Two-in-one.

Only one chapter today.

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