Chapter 364
: Chance and Necessity
Chapter 364: Chance and Necessity
Vader was stunned.
While he was in a daze, he felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and for an instant he seemed to have returned to the moment when he was hiding outside the terrace, holding his breath for his life.
But what Ralph meant was... when there was only a wall between him and Voldemort, there was actually a house-elf nearby?
Seeing that Wade didn't say anything, Ralph continued to explain, "Many years ago, when Dumbledore was still studying at Hogwarts, Ralph was responsible for cleaning the Gryffindor Tower and taking care of the children's daily lives."
"Then Dumbledore, like you, began to notice the house-elves hiding in the school and tried to find them. He treated Ralph kindly and was stern when other children were causing trouble."
"You...you are a friend of Dumbledore?" Wade asked.
"No?" The old house-elf shook his head. "Dumbledore is Ralph's master."
"After Dumbledore allowed the werewolf into the school, Ralph made sure he didn't hurt other students every few days before and after the full moon."
"Vampires are no different. The little ones in Gryffindor Tower will also always keep an eye on that little bat."
"What about Voldemort? Have you been spying on him too?" Wade asked in disbelief.
Ralph nodded slightly.
"In that person's eyes, house-elves are like pests, like spiders crawling past the corners of the wall. He never pays special attention to us. But in fact, when Professor Quirrell behaved abnormally, we were the first to notice it."
Vader remembered the house-elves' extremely acute hearing, and the fact that Quirrell was essentially talking to himself when he tried to communicate with Voldemort in the back of his mind.
He even remembered that in the original plot, the Basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets roamed around Hogwarts, but only petrified a few people and killed no one.
Every time, the students who encountered the basilisk would "coincidentally" avoid looking directly into the basilisk's eyes, some with the help of mirrors or water, and some with the help of camera lenses.
If all this is not a "coincidence", is it true that Ralph has been protecting students throughout that plot?
He did not completely prevent every harmful incident, but only gently pushed students when they were in fatal crisis, pulling them out of death.
Of course, in this world, that plot did not happen, and Wade had no way to verify his conjecture.
He just asked: "Then you also know... about James Potter and others becoming Animagus?"
Sirius and Lupin had always believed that Dumbledore knew nothing about this.
"Of course." Ralph seemed to understand what Wade was thinking. He said, "But I won't report everything to Dumbledore - especially when it comes to student privacy..."
"…but you said Dumbledore was your master."
"Yes, but so are the students of this school... I'm a house elf at Hogwarts."
"You've never told these things to anyone before, right? Why are you telling me?" Wade asked puzzledly.
Ralph raised his head slightly, looked at him and said, "Dumbledore believes that Weed Grey will be worried about his friends being hurt, and may take extreme actions because of his worry, so it is necessary to explain."
——What do you mean by extreme behavior? This is clearly a legitimate and reasonable concern for classmates.
Wade complained in his heart, but he was indeed much more relieved.
He thanked Ralph and thanked him for his help before, and only returned to the dormitory after Ralph disappeared from his sight.
Everything in the dormitory is still just right. The room is warm and comfortable, the bedding is fluffy and soft, and the tables, chairs and sundries are all kept clean.
Wade looked at the pot of hot water on the table and thought it was incredible that one day Zoe and the others would become as wise and steady as Ralph.
By that time, he would probably be as old as a dead tree trunk...if he could live that long...
While holding the water cup, Wade thought of the shy Zoe, the cheerful and talkative Habby... thought of Ralph's wrinkled face, and his eyes as big as tennis balls...
Suddenly, Wade froze as if the pause button had been pressed, and Ralph's voice echoed in his ears - "It's me."
"I am the protector of you children."
House-elves rarely refer to themselves as "I", but instead refer to themselves by their names. For example, Zoe would always say "Zoe this and that", as if she were talking about someone else.
But Ralph...he said "I" naturally...
Wade thought for a while, shook his head, and let go of the strange feeling in his heart.
——The older you get, the more you can discover the essence of the world...and maybe Ralph was influenced by Dumbledore, so his self-awareness is slightly stronger than other house-elves.
……
When Caryl entered Hogwarts, before he even flipped through the books, he first went through the complicated schedule of Hogwarts' third-year students.
Students who choose fewer courses are actually not that busy, but they have to walk a long way to get to the corresponding classroom for each class. They also have to deal with the stairs for school activities and the mischievous Peeves, which makes everyone seem busy.
Wade found that he gradually began to like the divination class.
Trelawney continued to talk nonsense in a mysterious way, and few students could see that she was just a facade. Most of them were in awe of the professor.
Trelawney liked it best when her students made up all kinds of false and tragic prophecies. But even if Wade's interpretation of the prophecy was as bland as boiled water, Professor Trelawney would not deny him.
Arithmancy also began to become more interesting - of course, other students did not think so - as the difficulty of calculation increased, the accuracy of divination also improved.
Even Care of Magical Creatures looked good.
Hagrid brought in various harmless or less dangerous magical creatures and had the students learn how to care for them.
Occasionally, a few ferocious beasts would appear in his class. Whenever this happened, Hagrid would always stay next to the monsters, watching the students as they interacted with, greeted, and played games with the beasts one by one, to prevent any accidents from happening.
Time slipped quietly into October.
Khalil's academic performance was polarized - he was ahead in some subjects, but in others he slept through them and said after waking up:
"Seriously, Gray, how did you resist being hypnotized by that old man?"
Wade said, "Do your homework."
Carle suddenly perked up: "Really? You've finished it? Lend it to me to copy!"
Wade readily threw the homework to him, but when Khalil opened it, he was dumbfounded.
"What is this you wrote? 'Analysis of the Essentials of the Vanishing Spell'? Do we learn this spell?"
Friendly recommendation:
Witch, Fireball and Steam
Travel to a world where mysticism and steam industry coexist, cursed objects, containment bureaus, evil god fanaticism...
That year, the king was seriously ill, his successor was young and inexperienced, power fell into the hands of others, and the empire was in turmoil.
That year, turmoil was brewing outside the empire, and foreign civilizations were eyeing it covetously.
That year, the prophet predicted that the era of civilization was about to come to an end.
That year, Ethan came to a small town on the border of the imperial capital, and began to practice fireball in order to survive in this crisis-ridden era.
Several years later, Ethan looked at the meteorite falling from the clouds and discovered a problem.
The elementary spells he learned seemed to be a little off.
(End of this chapter)