At night in Hogwarts, there are always some young wizards who cannot restrain their adventurous hearts.
Tonight, the Hufflepuff quartet once again became practitioners of this "tradition."
"I'm telling you, one can't always be down on their luck, just like we can't be this unlucky forever."
Lynn led the way, carefully pushing aside hanging vines while trying to bolster his companions' spirits with his "Law of Conservation of Luck."
"Luck is something that ebbs and flows! Running into the 'great luck' of a Dark Wizard like we did last time is, after all, an extremely low-probability event!"
Behind him was silence, save for the rustle of feet stepping on fallen leaves.
"No, give me some kind of reaction, will you?"
Lynn couldn't help but look back. "Does my theory not make even a little bit of sense?"
"I think the best thing you can do right now is stay quiet," William said, pushing up his glasses and warily observing the shimmering shadows of the trees around them.
"Instead of using your 'philosophical discussions' to attract some 'magical' creature we don't want to encounter."
Lynn was momentarily speechless, then turned back resentfully, muttering under his breath, "It's not like I forced you guys to come here with your wands..."
"Alright, alright," Edgar stepped in to smooth things over, though he also gripped his wand nervously.
"Since we're already here, Lynn, didn't you say you were in urgent need of Potion materials? Let's find them quickly and get out."
"After all, even the outer edges of the Forbidden Forest are quite large—plenty for us to search."
The group walked and stopped in the Forbidden Forest by the faint light of their wand tips, finally finding an area suspected of Mooncalf activity based on a vague description Lynn had seen in an old book from the library.
The air was filled with a faint, cool scent, like a mixture of mint and moonlight, and silver feathers that shimmered with a soft glow were scattered on the ground.
They didn't dare go deeper, only carefully picking up the shed feathers around the perimeter.
"By the way, Lynn," William couldn't help but ask as he placed an especially beautiful Mooncalf feather into a small bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
"Are you really that short on Potion materials? I see you've almost been living in the common room lately brewing Potions."
"How could I not be?"
Lynn sighed, his face written with the hardships of "providing for a family."
"Who would believe that the egg I picked up actually came with an instruction manual?"
"The manual explicitly states that after hatching, it needs to be fed Potions to supplement its nutrition!"
"To research recipes and practice brewing, my pocket money is almost gone!"
"Even the scraps in Professor Snape's private stores have almost been picked clean by me in the name of 'practice'!"
This was indeed the truth.
Recently, Lynn had managed to obtain quite a few materials from Snape by relying on his [Potions Favor] talent, persistent pestering, and handing over a portion of his finished products as "tribute."
He had even managed to produce high-difficulty Potions like Frost Resistance Syrup and Full Recovery Potion through his "thick skin," and had "offered up" nearly half to the dark-faced professor.
Thinking about it this way, although Snape had a bit of a poisonous tongue, in terms of material supply... well, he was barely acceptable. Lynn decided to temporarily upgrade him in his mind from "Old Bat" to a "somewhat stingy sponsor."
"It's still early, and the harvest is good. Should we explore a bit further to the side for a little while?"
Edgar looked at the bulging material bag and began to feel restless again.
Is this really a Hufflepuff? Are we sure he wasn't sorted into the wrong house?
"I'm fine with whatever. It's up to you guys," Lynn said noncommittally.
William and Ollie looked at each other, and William hesitated for a moment.
"Well... as long as we don't go deep, we shouldn't be so unlucky that something goes wrong again, right? Then... just a bit further?"
Ollie nodded silently as usual.
The group packed their things and continued to traverse the increasingly dense forest.
The surroundings were so quiet that they could hear only their own heartbeats and breathing.
After walking for about ten minutes, Lynn suddenly came to a halt.
"Something's not right! I have a creepy feeling!"
William, Edgar, and Ollie had already built a certain level of trust in Lynn's mysterious "intuition," since it had saved their lives last time.
Hearing this, they didn't hesitate at all, immediately finding thick tree trunks for cover and quickly hiding, holding their breath.
Almost as soon as they had hidden, Lynn, guided by his sense of crisis, raised his hand and fired a Spell into the bushes ahead without even thinking.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Aah!"
A suppressed cry of pain came from behind the bushes, accompanied by the sound of a wand hitting the ground.
Lynn himself was startled; he hadn't expected to actually hit something!
He immediately cast a Shield Charm on himself and then used a Disillusionment Charm, carefully creeping toward the source of the sound.
When he pushed aside the thick branches and saw the scene before him, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded.
A student wearing Gryffindor robes with strikingly red hair was grimacing and rubbing his wrist, his wand lying on the ground a few steps away.
Beside him, another almost identical red-haired boy was nervously holding his wand, warily scanning the surroundings.
What the hell? The Weasley twins? Why are they here too?
Lynn deactivated the Disillusionment Charm, revealing himself, and was about to say, "Are you guys okay? It's a misunderstanding..."
"Stupefy!"
Seeing Lynn suddenly appear, the other twin fired a Stunning Spell without even thinking.
Clang!
The red light struck solidly against the Shield Charm Lynn had maintained in advance, making a crisp sound before vanishing without a trace.
"Oh! Hey! Guys! Stop! Same side!"
Lynn shouted quickly, signaling that he had no hostile intent.
Fred finally saw Lynn's robes and that slightly immature face written with helplessness. He froze for a moment and patted his brother, who was still preparing to continue the attack.
"George, stop! It's a little badger! Looks like a first-year."
The twins then lowered their wands, looking shaken but full of curiosity as they sized up Lynn and the three Hufflepuffs peeking out from behind the trees.
"Yeah, Hufflepuff first-year, Lynn," Lynn introduced himself, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Fred Weasley."
"George Weasley."
The twins introduced themselves, their faces breaking into mischievous and inquisitive smiles.
"So, you guys sneaking into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night—are you also here to collect these... well, 'local specialties'?"
Fred raised an eyebrow and kicked a cluster of Fluorescent Mushrooms on the ground, asking with great interest.
"What else?"
Edgar stepped fully out from behind the tree, his tone still a bit sharp.
"Is it like you guys, coming to the Forbidden Forest to practice how to scare your schoolmates?"
He was still brooding over the fact that he had almost jumped out of his skin from fright.
George chuckled, not looking offended at all. Instead, he leaned in to examine the bulging material bags of Lynn and the others.
"Quite a harvest! Mooncalf feathers? You've got a good eye! This stuff on the black market—er, with curious collectors—can be exchanged for quite a bit of pocket money!"
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