Hagrid's garden, once avoided by young wizards, had now become the students' favorite spot, collectively known as the game arena.
Hagrid's greatest joy each day became acting as the referee for the "hide-and-seek" game. He'd sit on a high stool, watching scenes that made him burst into laughter almost every match.
The school's professors 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 Enlargement Charm and the Confundus Charm in his stead to make enlarged insects "hunt" the students.
However, some students simply couldn't stand insects, and a new game mode quickly emerged.
Students would draw lots to be randomly divided into black and white teams, then engage in a confrontation. This way, whether it was two or three people, or thirty or forty, everyone could play.
Dumbledore even personally added a small spell to the game arena: after students were sorted into teams, their robes would automatically turn white or black.
He even wanted to personally lead a team, but was "tactfully" rejected by the students unanimously.
Despite the professors' repeated warnings that no Dark Arts were allowed between opposing sides in the game arena, some students would secretly violate the rules, leading to a direct chain of point deductions and detentions.
The punishments were different from the usual copying lines or preparing potion ingredients. Students who violated the rules in the game arena faced the chores they most dreaded.
For example, cleaning toilets.
For example, being forbidden to use wands to prepare fertilizer.
And the most severe—being banned from the game arena, for periods ranging from three days to an entire semester.
Some students weren't afraid of dirty and tiring chores, but they absolutely refused to be excluded from the school's most popular activity.
After severely punishing a few rule-breaking students, everyone finally understood what "knowing one's place" meant.
Even so, a few students were sent to the hospital wing almost every day, mostly due to bumped heads or falling off pumpkins and breaking an arm.
For wizards, as long as it wasn't a Dark Arts injury, a simple broken bone could be healed in minutes, no more troublesome than a common cold.
But with more students sent to the hospital wing in one day than in a whole week before, Madam Pomfrey was constantly busy, applying to the Headmaster three times a day to close the game arena.
Dumbledore always chuckled and deflected her requests.
Wade, the one who initiated this game, didn't dare show his face in front of Madam Pomfrey for a long time.
After some time, when he returned to the game arena, he found that it had undergone drastic changes.
First, only about half of the giant pumpkins remained in the garden, 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 were piled behind Hagrid's hut.
"These are for Halloween," Hagrid explained to Wade. "If the children damage them too much, we won't be able to carve them into suitable shapes."
As he spoke, he used a massive knife to cut away the damaged parts of the pumpkins, scooping out the pulp inside, making the hollowed pumpkins resemble giant lanterns.
To fill the void left by the removed pumpkins, Professor McGonagall moved statues and suits of armor from the castle to the game arena.
They occasionally walked around, sometimes even suddenly sticking out a leg to trip passing students.
Michael once took a face-plant because of this, spitting out dirt with a disgusted look. Afterwards, he pondered for a long time and asked:
"Wade, do you think they deliberately want to play tricks on us, or did Professor McGonagall make them do it?"
"How could that be?" Hermione immediately retorted on behalf of her Head of House. "Professor McGonagall would never do something like that."
"That's not necessarily true," Wade said. "Think about it, what's Professor McGonagall's Animagus form?"
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, then, remembering Professor McGonagall's stern face, they immediately fell silent, vowing to bury these conjectures deep in their minds.
The next day, during Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall suddenly stared at a giggling Harry and asked with a stern face, "Mr. Potter, do you have any questions about the content of this lesson?"
Harry stood up flustered. "A cat... no, no... Professor!"
Professor McGonagall stared deeply at him, like a large feline predator staring at 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, rather 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 cleared her throat. "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, you cannot transform into just any animal, nor can you transform into a magical creature."
Professor McGonagall continued, "The animal you transform into is generally related to the wizard's personality and weight. Improper practice can lead to being unable to transform back into a normal human, so it is a very dangerous form of Transfiguration magic..."
—So it really is related to personality!
Several students silently thought the same thing, feeling as though they were re-evaluating their Head of House.
After Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout also added some things to the game arena.
For example, pea pods that shot peas, half-human-height Whomping Willows, young Devil's Snare, seemingly safe and even beautiful hallucinogenic mushrooms, and so on...
Their harmfulness was kept within a very limited range, but they always made the students suffer a little.
Additionally, the house-elves, at the Headmaster's instruction, moved in many old tables, stools, shelves, broken stone carvings, and more, arranging the game arena like a maze.
Because of this, the area of the grounds more than doubled.
Soon after, a notice was posted on the bulletin board in the Entrance Hall—
"Dueling Club?" Michael said with great interest. "Is Professor Flitwick teaching it? He was a dueling champion when he was young!"
If he could learn a few tricks from Professor Flitwick, would it be possible to defeat Wade?
"I hope so," Wade said. "But I haven't heard the professor mention anything about it."
He had even gone to Professor Flitwick's office to ask yesterday. If the professor had this intention, he would at least hint at it... right?
In the original plot, this club was hosted by Lockhart.
He wondered if this time, Professor Flitwick would draw some inspiration from the game arena and decide to pass on his dueling experience to the students?
However, it turned out not to be the case.
After dinner, the beaming Gilderoy Lockhart was still the one who appeared in the Great Hall.
Professor Snape stood beside him, seemingly shrouded in shadow.
The long tables in the Great Hall had vanished, replaced by a half-human-height stage.
Lockhart spread his arms on the stage and announced loudly, "Welcome, children! I'm delighted to see almost the entire school has come. Your eagerness to learn deeply moves me..."
Michael grumbled in disappointment, "If you're so moved, can you give us Professor Flitwick back?"
After a month, apart from a few girls with fan-girl filters, almost everyone could see what kind of a professor he truly was.
He was less a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and more a drama teacher.
Lockhart was enthusiastic about having students perform scenes from his books every class, and he'd spend at least thirty minutes recounting his own bravery and greatness.
But when asked about professional knowledge, he'd start stammering and changing the subject.
Michael was even dragged up to perform as a werewolf and a yeti, which he considered the shame of his life.
"I suddenly remembered, Lockhart never made you perform his scripts, did he?" Michael asked Wade. "How did you manage that?"
"The Notice-Me-Not Charm," Wade whispered. "If you want to learn it, I'll teach you next time."
"Don't wait till next time, let's go to the Umbrella House 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 towards the black-robed wizard.
"Professor Snape is our assistant. He has generously agreed to help me with a small demonstration before class... Of course, don't worry, I'll return your Potions Master to you in one piece!"
He smiled smugly, while Snape glared intently at his back.
The students immediately became 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, and when he walked, he was like a black bat spreading its wings, but he was actually very thin.
Ignoring his terrifying expression, he did indeed give off a frail impression.
But magical ability didn't depend on muscle.
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 carefully, children... You've been too crude in your capture-the-flag games. A true wizard's duel is very elegant, and swift."
"We will count to three, and then, in an instant, your Potions Master will lose his wand..."
"One... two... three..."
With a "bang," Lockhart flew off the stage, hit the wall, then slid to the ground, his wand flying away.
The Slytherin students cheered, and Wade and Michael applauded along.
"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, there were no "Heir of Slytherin attacking students" incidents happening at school, so even if Harry accidentally exposed his Parseltongue, he wouldn't be treated as an enemy of the whole school.
Of course, after so much training, Harry, facing a snake now, would certainly not only think of using Parseltongue to drive it away.
The two squeezed through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd and met Theo and Ryan halfway, who also joined them.
"Don't listen to Lockhart's nonsense," Wade told his companions. "In a real fight, no one will foolishly bow to you. If you can ambush, ambush. If not, then dodge first and protect yourselves."
"Only when the disparity in strength is immense is there room for elegance and grace."
Theo involuntarily recalled the scene when Wade defeated the werewolf and the Dark wizard.
Before those two fell, Wade had no intention of exposing himself.
The same applied to the hide-and-seek game.
From the very beginning, Wade wouldn't foolishly stand face-to-face and cast spells at his opponent like they did.
And... he would win every time.
Theo was thoughtful.
The Umbrella House 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 storage room and found that it was indeed much emptier; the tables and cabinets in the game arena probably came from here.
Then he switched to the potion-making room. In several cauldrons, potions were bubbling.
In Potions class, the potions they learned could generally be completed within one lesson, some even in just 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 cauldrons didn't need constant supervision; magic kept the flames burning continuously and steadily.
After checking all his potions, he checked the time; it was already very late. Wade summoned his broom with an Accio, flew through the corridor window, and landed directly on the Ravenclaw Tower rooftop.
The eagle door knocker softly asked, "What is something that is too much for two, but just right for one?"
"A secret."
Wade answered.
The common room door opened. After he entered, he found there was still someone in the common room.
A girl, curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace, wearing pajamas, fast asleep.
She had been covered by a blanket, but now it had slipped down halfway, revealing her calves and bare feet.
Wade casually waved his wand, and the blanket flew up, covering the girl.
The process was very light and silent, but the girl woke up.
A golden-brown head stirred under the blanket, then she vaguely looked up.
The girl had pale skin, light eyebrows, and unusual silver eyes that protruded, as if in great surprise.
Wade, who had intended to return to his dorm, stopped.