The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and all the mist dissipated.
Wade looked at Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was looking back at him. Behind the thin layer of his glasses, Dumbledore's eyes seemed like a deep blue sea.
"You've shown me a glimpse of Voldemort's life…" Wade asked carefully, "What was the purpose?"
Dumbledore held out his palm, and a single leaf from outside the window landed in it.
"Look at this leaf, my boy. What does it make you think of?"
Dumbledore then answered his own question: "Some would say it's green. Some would say it's nature. Some would say it's the environment. Some might find it pleasing to the eye. Some might think it's food for insects. And some might think of the passage of time and life. And some will say that a leaf is just a leaf."
After a moment's pause, Dumbledore repeated, "A leaf is just a leaf, Wade."
"What you associate with it should depend on yourself."
He placed the leaf in Wade's palm and smiled. "It's time for lunch. Go eat. Today's lunch has fruit pudding, and it would be a shame to miss it."
Dumbledore left, and Wade looked at the leaf in his hand, thinking for a long time.
In the original story, Dumbledore took Harry through memories related to Voldemort, one by one. He analyzed the human nature and weaknesses reflected in those memories, thereby guiding Harry to find the Horcruxes and defeat Voldemort in the future.
However, what Dumbledore had shown him was the simple trajectory of Voldemort's life. There were no tedious details or lengthy lectures, just a simple presentation, leaving all the questions for Wade to answer himself.
Had their "club activities" been discovered by Dumbledore? Or had Dumbledore seen something in his move to push for Sirius's case to be reopened?
Wade thought for a while, then used the leaf as a bookmark, placing it inside his book.
No matter what Dumbledore was trying to convey, Wade wouldn't change his approach because of it.
Early the next morning, a flood of owls flew into Hogwarts, dropping thick newspapers onto the breakfast tables.
Wade opened the Daily Prophet, and the first thing he saw was a photo of Harry and Sirius embracing. Lupin was smiling in the corner, only half of his face visible. In another corner was a small photo of Peter Pettigrew in a prison uniform.
"Look! Sirius Black has been acquitted! And Peter Pettigrew has been sentenced to life in prison!"
Padma excitedly flipped through the paper, shouting to Michael.
A cheer erupted from the Gryffindor table. The Weasley twins, in particular, were wearing bizarre hats and bouncing up and down on their seats. They had been involved in the operation to capture Peter and had followed the case closely. Now that it had reached a desired conclusion, the twins were as happy as if they had been the ones released.
But their two other brothers weren't so pleased. Ron and Percy both had grim faces, seemingly taking Peter having been their pet as a source of shame.
"Unbelievable," one of Percy's roommates said to him loudly. "To think we used to live in the same dorm as that slimy guy! Percy, I'm never going to own a rat as a pet again!"
Percy's face darkened, and the people around him burst into laughter.
Some girls were whispering, too. Wade heard Cho Chang from not far away say to her friend, "Marietta, I don't have a problem with hamsters, but... well... could you not keep it in the dorm?"
Marietta's expression was a little unnatural. "Don't even mention it. I'm going to send it back later and have my mom keep it in the garden for me."
"By owl?" Cho Chang asked uncertainly. "Will it get eaten?"
"No, I'm sending it back with the cage, too..." Marietta replied.
Because they could use the school's communal owls for mail, many girls preferred to keep fluffy hamsters or small mice as pets. On nice days, they would even take them out to play.
But after Peter's case, the number of rodent pets in the entire school decreased by more than half. Even if some owners couldn't bear to send them away, they no longer kept them in their dorms. The two empty dorms in the Ravenclaw tower became places for everyone to keep their pets. Some people didn't even want to keep their cats in their dorms, so they just let them stay in the common room.
Ravenclaw was better off since there were fewer people and fewer pets, but it was said that over in Gryffindor, they often quarreled about their pets.
"Hey, Draco!" a high-pitched voice from the Slytherin table said. "I hear Sirius Black is your uncle! He's been acquitted, so you must be really happy, right?"
Draco Malfoy's face immediately became a grimace.
"Sirius Black was the last heir of the Black family, a shame he's a blood traitor who was blasted off the family tree," another Slytherin student named Morton deliberately said.
Many people snickered maliciously.
"Shut up, all of you."
For the sake of the broomsticks, Marcus Flint spoke up. "What does a traitor who was disowned have to do with the Malfoy family? Draco has never even met that man."
Wade looked up and glanced diagonally across the table. Draco Malfoy had his back to them, so Wade couldn't see his expression, but he could see that the hand beneath the table was tightly gripping his wand, its tip trembling slightly.
"Wade!" Michael patted his shoulder. "Forget studying this morning. Let's go to the game arena."
"Alright." Wade took one last look over there, put down his fork, and the two walked out of the Great Hall together.
The grass was slightly damp but not muddy. Most of the plants had turned yellow, and the ground was covered with fallen leaves, making it feel like walking on a soft, thick carpet.
About a dozen students were already gathered at the game arena, waiting for the previous group to come out. When they saw Wade, their faces all went pale.
"So, what kind of game do you want to play?" Professor Flitwick, the referee, asked happily, holding his wand. "A duel or a battle royale?"
A girl raised her hand hesitantly and asked, "If it's a battle royale, is it the Wade version or the professor's version?"
Professor Flitwick chuckled as he glanced at Wade. "Of course it's the professor's version. Wade is a player today, too."
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief and said, "Battle royale! We choose battle royale!"
Wade's face darkened, and Michael burst out laughing next to him.
"Alright," Professor Flitwick said, pressing a timer. "You have five minutes to prepare."
The students all rushed into the arena. Those who had agreed to form teams beforehand went together, took out their wands, and began moving the surrounding objects to build defensive forts. The environment of the arena had become more and more complex, and these creative students deserved a lot of credit for it.
"Let's go..." Michael pulled Wade along as they ran inside, saying as they went, "We need to find cover first... You'll see why the professor's battle royale is so popular once you've been in one!"