Wallace grinned widely. But he didn't notice the disgusted looks from passing girls, who all walked around him.
Creepy guy, laughing so weirdly! Quick, look at Ethan to cleanse our eyes!
Wallace thought to himself: When students became disheartened after failing Ethan's trial, he would emerge with his warm, broad chest to welcome them into the cosy, happy Gobstone family. What a brilliant plan!
"Hehehe! Junior Ethan, you're still too naive. Competition between clubs is just this intense!"
Today's breakfast seemed to take forever to arrive. Ethan tasted a small bite of pickled herring and ultimately decided to pile bacon on his bread slice. Though not innovative enough, it was safe enough.
Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "Look at that! Merlin!"
Was it Ron's Howler? Ethan looked up but was surprised to find it wasn't that at all.
Countless owls poured in like a flood, dropping countless feathers amid everyone's exclamations.
"Oh!" Professor Lockhart stood up in delight, saying smugly, "It must be fan mail! They're always so enthusiastic..."
However, his voice quickly stopped, his smile freezing on his face. Because those hundreds of owls flew directly toward Ethan at the Ravenclaw table with clear purpose!
"Heh." Professor McGonagall chuckled softly, raising her cup to cover the mocking smile on her face.
Under the students' dumbfounded gazes... "Rustle rustle..."
Letters rained down like a downpour. But during their fall, they were caught by a magical force. Ethan waved his wand like a conductor, calmly catching and gathering the letters together. They were neatly arranged without touching the dishes.
"Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, France, Fleur Delacour, December 22, 1991..."
"Fleur Delacour, January 1, 1992..."
"Fleur, April 5, 1992..."
"Fleur, hm? Why are they all from her?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow, quickly scanning through these letters. From roughly the end of last year's challenge until the start of this year's September term. Almost one letter per day... it was nearly a diary.
And Miss Fleur was quite particular. Each letter used snow-white, sturdy paper with a faint fragrance. With all these scents combined, the entire Great Hall was filled with the aroma, as if placed in a sea of flowers, making many students inhale frantically in fascination.
An ethereal voice spoke from beside him: "An elegant young lady, isn't she?"
Ethan turned his head to meet Luna's round blue eyes.
"Elegant..." Ethan recalled Fleur's performance in the challenge, picturing in his mind a proud skylark using its slender, sharp beak to strike at enemies.
From this storm of letters, he couldn't see any connection to elegance whatsoever. She must be angry about the challenge... To hold a grudge until now. Does Miss Fleur have such a persistent nature?
Ethan thought, saying honestly: "I don't recall her being elegant. But she has a resilient character and is an outstanding student with exceptional abilities."
Ethan held up a letter and laughed: "She even said to come to France for a rematch at Christmas. Haha, I wouldn't be so foolish as to go."
"Mm..." Luna nodded thoughtfully. She lowered her head and continued eating her stew with a silver spoon.
For some reason, Ethan seemed to see a hint of fighting spirit in her usually tranquil eyes.
Truly an excellent Ravenclaw. Just enrolled and already thinking about improvement.
Ethan nodded approvingly.
Just then, a violent hurricane swept in, scattering the floating letters amid everyone's exclamations. It also dispersed the rich fragrance filling the Great Hall.
Ethan looked up, following the magical flow to see Miss Gemma Farley at the Slytherin table calmly putting away her wand. The uncontrolled letters fell on Ethan's head.
"You know, Luna?" Ethan removed a letter from his head and sighed: "Sometimes I'd rather face a basilisk than deal with a moody girl."
Luna quietly glanced at Ethan. Then she drained her soup in one go, set down her bowl with a clink, and smiled slightly: "I'm going to class, Ethan. See you later."
She efficiently packed her things and quickly walked toward the Great Hall exit. Her pale golden hair swayed behind her.
Ethan watched Luna's departing figure, stunned for two seconds. He murmured: "How studious. I believe with this drive, Luna's magical abilities will definitely improve by leaps and bounds. I need to work hard too. Starting with renovating Sen Castle."
Michael beside him thought: You really only think about yourself, don't you? Can't you see the Gobstone Club president is so jealous his eyeballs are about to pop out?
Michael looked at the still-sighing Ethan with exasperation, then suddenly smiled with relief. Nobody's perfect. Especially not the human-like Ethan. All his points went into talent and intelligence. As for emotional intelligence? Basic level was enough.
On the other side, at the Gryffindor table, because of Ethan's "letter bombardment", few people paid attention to Ron's Howler. This gave Harry and Ron some relief. But... it also made them seem more pitiful.
"Different people, different fates." Ron murmured, pale-faced, watching Ethan collect batch after batch of letters with envious eyes.
The only good news was that his new wand wasn't broken.
Late at night, a figure quietly appeared in the second-floor girls' bathroom.
Open... open... Ethan had the snake flute in his mouth, making hissing sounds at the tap decorated with a carved snake.
Like wind threading through a valley, the hoarse sounds echoed in the quiet, dim bathroom.
"Rumble..." The entire sink began to disassemble and scatter, revealing a pipe large enough for one person to pass through.
"Ugh." Ethan wrinkled his nose as an extremely strong smell of mould and decay wafted out.
"Look, a little wizard who doesn't sleep at night and comes to explore the girls' bathroom."
A shrill voice suddenly spoke from behind Ethan. At the same time, bone-deep coldness crept up his spine.
"I was wondering when you'd appear, Miss Myrtle. Sorry for disturbing you."
Ethan turned his head, smiling at the ghost floating in mid-air.
Hmph! The shadows on Myrtle's face deepened. She whooshed behind a stall, peeking out her head shyly and nervously: "I won't tell anyone about your business. But I should tell you... I died right here. If you die, you can come to my bathroom!"
Ethan chuckled softly: "Then I'll have to work harder."
Myrtle was stunned, unable to tell for a moment whether this handsome boy meant to "work harder to stay alive" or "work harder to die".
Before she could figure it out, Ethan leapt into the pipe.
"Oh!" Myrtle cried out regretfully, tears streaming down again. Only then did she realise her "Prince Charming" hadn't even told her his name.
Ethan certainly wouldn't slide down the pipe and get his robes covered in filth. He used magic to support himself as he descended, feeling the temperature gradually become cold and damp.
After a very long time, deeper than Hogwarts' underground classrooms, past the bottom of the Black Lake, the pipe finally became level again.
"Click." Ethan gracefully emerged from the pipe. A crisp, scattered sound came from underfoot.
"Lumos." Ethan looked down to see countless white bones covering the ground like a carpet.
"Good evening to all who rest here." Ethan pretended to remove a hat from his head and bowed elegantly. "Pardon the intrusion."
Ethan listened carefully while slowly stepping over the bones. The cavern was tall and wide. Water droplets seeped through the walls with patches of dark reddish-brown grime dried on them.
However, there were no stalactites on either the ground or ceiling. These stone pillars looked as if they'd been broken in half by some massive creature, leaving only smooth breaks.
Dark and silent. Like a tomb.
"Hmph, quite the atmosphere." Ethan commented, thinking about how to get himself one too.
Before long, a corroded circular iron door appeared ahead. It bore several indistinct snakes with emerald eyes that flickered and changed, looking as if they were blinking.
Ethan's hands trembled. He suppressed certain very human desires.
Open... open... The snake flute made hissing sounds.
A snake slithered up from the side, and through those snakes retracting one by one, it was like unlocking. Finally... "BOOM!"
A muffled sound. With thick dust rising, the Chamber's final door slowly opened for Ethan.
Ethan's eyes lit up with excitement: Chamber, here I come!
But first. Ethan raised his wand and pointed it at his eyes.
"Whoosh!" A thick black cloth appeared, tightly binding Ethan's eyes. So he wouldn't accidentally get stared to death by the basilisk. His current Curse Resistance couldn't yet resist the basilisk's "death ray".
Ethan stepped through the iron door, reaching out his arms. With a gleeful grin on his face, he groped around randomly: Little basilisk, where are you? Stop hiding and come serve customers!
The awakened basilisk thought: "..." What the hell? Had Slytherin returned from the dead?
"Hiss... hissss..." A low voice came from deep within the Chamber.
Master! Where are you? Come out quickly, and let's do great things together!
"Hiss... hissss..." The basilisk didn't emerge. It just tried to say something.
Ethan stared in confusion: "?"
Ethan lowered his arms, realising a very serious problem. Although he could communicate with the basilisk through the snake flute, he couldn't understand what the basilisk was saying!
A boss couldn't just give orders. Sometimes, listening to the workers was also very important. Especially when the other party was a giant basilisk wider than his own height.