On Thursday, Wade didn't have many classes—just two overlapping electives in the morning, Herbology in the afternoon, and Astronomy in the evening.
However, because he needed to make time for his Alchemy lessons with Professor Murray, Wade still got up very early to pick up the young wolf from the Hospital Wing.
As usual, he bypassed the long corridors and stairs, instead flying calmly on his broomstick along the windows. A minute later, he was outside the Hospital Wing window.
Wade placed his hand on the window. Under the silent, wandless Unlocking Charm, the inner latch turned silently halfway. He pulled the window open, about to step inside, when he suddenly heard a sound—
"Ah!" Malfoy shrieked, sounding like he'd suddenly sprung up from his bed.
Wade froze, thinking he must have found the wrong window.
He was about to quietly turn and leave when he heard other people talking inside.
"Good morning, Draco." A girl said with a slightly flirty tone, "Sorry, I guess that was a bit of a rude awakening."
"Are you crazy, what was that?" Malfoy said angrily, "My bed's soaking wet now! Madam Pomfrey will be here any minute!"
The other people in the room all laughed, with a mocking quality, as if they found his reaction very childish.
Wade cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and hovered conspicuously outside the window, looking in.
Five or six students stood around Malfoy's bed, seemingly surrounding him. Malfoy, thoroughly drenched, jumped off the bed, looking a bit disheveled.
Wade glanced around, noted a few names, then his gaze fell on the only familiar person.
Carlyle.
He was a few years younger than the others, but not short, and he fit in perfectly among them.
Wade suddenly felt like he hadn't seen Carlyle in a long time… In fact, calculating the time, they had spoken before the holidays, but after just over a month apart, Carlyle seemed to have changed a lot.
His previously somewhat round face was now noticeably thinner, and his eyes were calm, as if he had suddenly matured several years, even carrying a sense of world-weariness.
At this moment, while everyone else was laughing, Carlyle looked indifferent, his eyelids drooping as if he hadn't fully woken up.
"Don't make such a fuss, Draco." Another boy said, still laughing, "A small Spell will fix this. Didn't you learn that in Charms Class?"
He waved his Wand, and the water on the bed vanished, leaving only a faint trace.
"Sorry, I don't need to learn… what's it called? Housekeeping magic? What, can't your family afford a House-elf?" Malfoy sneered.
The boy stopped laughing, but didn't get angry. Instead, he shrugged and said, "Not every family can be like the Malfoys, able to keep the wealth left by their ancestors growing, instead of foolishly squandering it all."
"What, really, not even a House-elf left?" one of his companions asked in surprise, with an innocent, unworldly tone.
"There is one, but Bru is very old now," the boy explained. "Though my mum allowed him to breed, you know… it's not that easy."
"Alright, enough about those lowly House-elves, just thinking about their faces makes me sick," a girl said haughtily. "Draco, you haven't been to a party in ages. What, are you backing out?"
"Don't you know? I've been in detention! All because of that Spell you taught me… the bloody Entrail-Expelling Curse! I'm going to be in detention for a whole year!" Malfoy said with great dissatisfaction.
The boy quickly interjected, "Shhh—shhh—keep it down! Do you want to attract Madam Pomfrey?"
Someone else laughed, "You can't blame us for that. I warned you early on that Spell was dangerous, but it feels great to use—doesn't it? Weren't you happy using it to get revenge on a traitor?"
"Happy?" Malfoy said stubbornly, "I was sick to my stomach!"
"Alright, I have class now." The haughty girl said, "Malfoy, we're having a party at our usual spot this evening. If you want to come, just pretend your injury hasn't healed and take a day off. Of course, if you want to back out, all you have to do is…"
She paused, then smiled, "…say the word."
Her smile was meaningful, as if to say—I'll wring your neck if you dare back out.
A moment later, Malfoy's voice echoed in the room: "…I'll be there."
"That's for the best."
The group filed out, and the last boy to leave even swiped a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from the front of the bed.
Malfoy clutched the ring tightly in his hand, standing by the bed, his expression shifting between clear and clouded.
Wade didn't watch any longer. He gently turned his broom and left the window.
He remembered when Malfoy had injured Crabbe, and his parents had rushed to the school to deal with it.
Dumbledore had punished him with a year of detention; no student had ever been given such a long detention before.
The elder Malfoy hadn't objected, merely entrusting the matter to Professor Snape. At that time, Draco Malfoy's heart should have been relatively light, as Snape's favoritism towards him was well-known.
But the reality was quite the opposite. Draco Malfoy's detention this time was incredibly severe. Every day, besides classes, he was in detention. He even had to ask Professor Snape for time to finish his homework during detention.
It was said that Professor Snape would even help him review essays during detention. For other professors, this would be a rare learning opportunity, but given Snape's style, Draco Malfoy was probably subjected to psychological torment every day.
It was rumored that he cried on his way back several times.
Thinking about it now… although Dumbledore, the elder Malfoy, and Snape didn't have entirely the same stance, their attitude on this matter should have been consistent.
They all used the excuse of detention to passively force Draco Malfoy to cut ties with people he shouldn't be associating with.
But now, it seemed Draco Malfoy himself didn't see it that way.
By the time Wade entered the ward where the young wolf was resting, he had already made up his mind.
He objectively wrote the recent events on parchment, duplicated it into two copies, transformed them into Paper Cranes, then watched the pale yellow Paper Cranes flap their wings and fly out the window.
One flew towards the Headmaster's Office, the other to find Professor Snape.
Draco Malfoy's party tonight probably wouldn't go smoothly. He wondered if that small student club would be casually shut down by the professors.
Wade watched the Paper Crane fly off into the distance from the window, while the young wolf on the hospital bed had already turned over and gotten up. He secretly pulled back a sliver of the curtain and peeked through the gap with his round eyes.
Suddenly, Wade turned his head, startling the young wolf, who whimpered and shrank back onto the bed.
"Hello," Wade said gently, without approaching. "My name is Wade Gray. How does your wound feel?"
A moment later, the small wolf poked his head out from behind the curtain again.
"Much better," he said in a childish voice. "Thank you for saving me… Where is this place?"
"Hogwarts' Hospital Wing. Come on, I'll take you back to the Forbidden Forest."
Wade extended his hand. The young wolf hesitated for a moment before emerging completely. Wade grasped him by the scruff of the neck, lifted him, and held him close.
He yelped, his limbs clinging tightly to Wade's arm, his tail stiff.
"What's your name?" Wade asked as he walked out.
"Morris," the young wolf said. "Morris Holden."
"How old are you?" Wade asked.
"I'm already two years old," Morris said proudly.
Wade was a little surprised; he had thought this little guy was only about three or four months old.
He vaguely remembered that ordinary wolves were typically mature by two years old, yet this young wolf, from his appearance to his speech, had the air of a small child.
Perhaps this was also an effect of his human bloodline—a longer childhood, but correspondingly, a much longer lifespan than ordinary wild wolves.
"If I take you to the Forbidden Forest, will you know how to get home?" Wade asked, still concerned. "Don't get caught by some monster again."
"Of course I will, I was just careless before!" Morris argued loudly.
As they spoke, Wade walked out of the ward, then paused.
Carlyle stood leaning against the wall in the corridor, looking up with a slight smile. "Good morning, Wade."
"…Morning." Wade closed the door behind him and asked, "No class this morning? Why are you standing here?"
"I was waiting for you," Carlyle said. "You were by the window just now, right? I sensed it."
"Sensed?" Wade raised an eyebrow. "You mean you heard me, right?"
"Haha, that's true too," Carlyle chuckled twice, his gaze shifting to Morris. "Is this little guy your pet?"
Morris shivered slightly and buried his head in Wade's arms.
"No, I found him in the forest," Wade said, not hiding anything. "He was injured, so I brought him here for Madam Pomfrey to treat."
"Oh, you met him in the Forbidden Forest yesterday evening, right?" Carlyle said, smiling. "I thought I had a good relationship with Hagrid, but I didn't expect even someone like Malfoy to receive an invitation while I didn't."
"Hagrid promised Malfoy a long time ago, before you even came to school. And Hagrid always does things on a whim," Wade said.
"Like illegally raising a Dragon?" Carlyle said enviously. "That's great… doing whatever you want, and even if you mess up, someone's there to cover for you."
Wade glanced at him and asked, "Did something happen during the holiday? You look… not so good."
"Maybe I played too hard during the break and haven't recovered… or maybe I didn't get the Christmas present I wanted," Carlyle said, looking at Wade, hinting at something.
Wade felt a little awkward hearing that.
He hadn't given Carlyle a Christmas gift, but after returning from Gray Castle, he found Carlyle's gift to him among the piles of gift boxes—a daily planner and a small bag of cookies.
It was very ordinary and normal, so normal that Wade, who had spent half the day examining it, felt like an idiot.
Of course, he hadn't eaten the cookies either; they were still on the shelf as decoration. Anyway, there was plenty of Wardrobe Space, so he wasn't worried about them taking up room.
"Speaking of which…" Carlyle suddenly asked, "Were the cookies I gave you good?"
"…Not bad," Wade said vaguely.
"Haha, don't force it so much, I know they're nowhere near as good as my mom used to make," Carlyle said with a smile. "Wade, do you remember? My mom is a great cook, and you loved her little cookies when you were a kid."
"Of course," Wade nodded.
"But my favorite was the seafood chowder… she'd add cream, a bit of bay leaf and lemon, so delicious you could swallow your tongue," he said with a nostalgic expression. "It's a shame Vampires aren't very sensitive to taste; her seafood chowder hasn't been as good lately."
Wade's heart stirred, and he turned to look at Carlyle, wondering if he said that intentionally or just in casual conversation.
"Oh, by the way, you didn't accept my invitation during the Christmas holiday. Come be my guest next Hogsmeade Weekend? My parents bought a house in Hogsmeade, and they'd really like to meet you."
Carlyle said enthusiastically, "My mom will make a huge feast, and you can bring a few more friends with you."
Wade frowned. "Your parents?"
"Yes!" Carlyle said, his smile unchanging.
Wade was confused. "Carlyle, for so long, you really haven't noticed…"
The young man opposite him dropped his smile, his faintly bloodshot eyes appearing cold and hateful. But this icy expression lasted only a moment, then he curved his eyebrows, still displaying his mask-like smile.
"Please, Wade, you owe me this," Carlyle said in a low, pleading voice. "You didn't accept my last invitation, so please just agree this time, no matter what, otherwise my parents will definitely be angry with me… I beg you."
Wade looked into his eyes, and after a long moment, nodded slightly.
"Great!" Carlyle immediately broke into a happy smile, and said triumphantly, "Haha, I knew you were soft-hearted! You can't back out now that you've agreed! I'm going to eat breakfast!"
He waved his hand and walked briskly towards the Great Hall. Wade turned in the other direction, heading down the side stairs.
Only then did Morris carefully lift his head, rolling in Wade's arms to look up at the Wizard who had saved him.
The young man's gray eyes were downcast, filled with an indescribable sadness and pity.
"Wade?" Morris whispered, placing his front paws on Wade's arm.
"Hmm?"
"That person just now… he smelled of blood, and he felt very dangerous… You shouldn't go near him, and don't accept his invitation," Morris said earnestly.
Wade just replied, "I know."
"Huh?"
"I know he's a Vampire. It's just that…"
Wade walked out of the castle, looking at the dark forest in the distance, and swallowed the rest of his words.
After a long silence, not hearing what came after "It's just that," Morris thought for a moment, then patted Wade's arm with his paw and said:
"Even though I don't know what's going on, my father once said… he said that bad things won't stop happening just because you avoid them, but as long as you keep moving forward, you'll eventually get out of the mud."
Wade smiled and said, "You're very smart, Morris, and your father is also a wise man. But I… I'm quite clumsy in some areas."
Looking back at the magnificent castle, Wade sighed and said, "It seems I'll be causing Professor Dumbledore trouble again this time."
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