Chapter 407
The end of the semester
Chapter 407 The end of the semester
Although Vader quickly learned how to Apparate, Dumbledore did not end their lessons there.
In the next two days, they continued to practice in the clearing in the woods every afternoon.
Of course, there was another Vader taking classes in the school at this time, so no one was aware of his secret courses.
No matter what spell it is, the more you practice it, the simpler it becomes. For example, if Wade wanted to turn a button into a beetle, he didn't need to construct any images in his mind, he could just tap his wand and it would be done.
The same is true for Apparition.
At first, Dumbledore praised his diligence, then he began to discourage him, and finally he said nothing and just provided help and support in silence.
But after Wade returned to school, Dumbledore couldn't help but sigh deeply.
Professor McGonagall, who was reporting on the holiday arrangements, paused and asked in confusion, "Is there anything wrong with these procedures?"
"No, I was just wondering..." Dumbledore paused, smiled bitterly and said, "When did Hogwarts become a place where students feel insecure?"
Professor McGonagall frowned and said seriously: "Who said that? Everyone knows that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world."
Her expression was just short of writing "nonsense" on her face.
Dumbledore did not explain. He picked up the retention list and looked at it. Seeing that Harry's name was not on it, he asked casually, "Is Harry going to Hogsmeade during the holidays?"
"I heard that Wade invited him." Professor McGonagall said, "He should be at Gray's house during the holidays."
"Well……"
Dumbledore thought for a moment, put down the list, and said with a smile: "Friendship during student days is always precious, but the relationship between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw is so close, which is rare in my memory."
"Yes." Professor McGonagall said with emotion: "Weed Grey's study group has achieved remarkable results. Everyone is excellent. Even Neville has improved a lot. I really hope other children can learn from him."
"You can't force this kind of thing. A good leader is very important."
Dumbledore took off his glasses and wiped them, then said, "I need to go to the Wizengamot for the next few days, so I'll leave the holiday to you."
"Okay...when will you be back?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Christmas." Dumbledore smiled, "I don't want to miss the school's Christmas dinner."
……
On the last day before the holiday, the school also arranged a Hogsmeade weekend.
But this time, the small wizard village had little appeal to Wade. He had to finalize the production of the curse-proof vest with the Weasley twins for the last time, and then gather his strength to practice Apparition in the afternoon.
In the evening, the exhausted Wade sat at the dining table. Just after he had eaten for a while, there was another person next to him.
He thought it was Michael, but suddenly he heard the other party ask, "Weider, why didn't you go to Hogsmeade today?"
Wade was startled for a moment, then turned around and saw Khalil with a bright smile.
By the way, Dumbledore also gave Wade the task of taking care of Khalil!
But Wade was too busy. Even with the time-turner he always felt that there was not enough time, not to mention taking care of Khalil across an academy.
And Khalil's attitude also made Wade feel a little strange. He was very enthusiastic and cheerful...but Wade felt that the other party seemed to be avoiding him intentionally or unintentionally.
Was he afraid that I would notice something was wrong with him, or was he...
Many thoughts went through Wade's mind, but on the surface, he was just slightly startled, and then said:
"I've bought everything I wanted to buy, and Diagon Alley sells more things."
"Diagon Alley..." Caryl said longingly, "I've heard of that place for a long time, but I haven't had the chance to go there yet!"
"If you stay in school, you'll have to wait until summer vacation to have a chance to go," said Wade.
"I'm not staying at school, I'm going home!" said Carlile.
Wade was stunned: "Go home?"
"Yeah!" Caryl naturally took a baked potato, peeled it and said happily, "I'll take the train to King's Cross Station like you guys, and then my dad will pick me up!"
"Mr. Johnson... have you made contact?" Wade asked slowly.
He remembered Dumbledore saying that Landon Johnson had disappeared. How did that man get in touch with Caryl at Hogwarts?
"Of course!" Khalil seemed to remember something after he finished speaking, and squinted his eyes and said, "Don't tell anyone else! You know, my parents don't like wizards."
"Well... okay." Wade agreed.
After what happened, it was natural for Mr. Johnson to dislike wizards. It was already very open-minded of him to allow Caryl to study at Hogwarts.
But Wade always felt that something was wrong... The strange feeling made his scalp tingle.
"By the way, come to my house during the holidays!" Khalil suddenly said, "My parents miss you too, and they said they wanted to visit you!"
Before Wade could think clearly, he subconsciously refused: "Probably not, I should be very busy during this holiday... and my parents are going to Australia for vacation."
"I see... That's a shame. Let's make it during the summer vacation, when we have longer vacation time."
Khalil didn't look disappointed at all. He ate a few bites of the baked potato with ketchup and then returned to the long table on the Gryffindor side.
At this time, Michael, who had arrived late, sat next to Wade.
"Was that Khalil just now? Did he want to talk to you about something?"
"Ask about the holiday plans." Wade said, "What about you? Did your parents agree that you go to my house for Christmas?"
"They're looking forward to it!" Michael pouted and said, "My mother said happily that she can finally have a relaxing Christmas! They decided to spend this Christmas alone and asked me not to disturb them."
He glanced to the side and saw several Muggle-born girls giving Carlile their home phone numbers and reminding him, "Remember to call during the holidays, Carlile."
"Okay!" Khalil put away the note and said with a smile.
"This guy is almost as popular as me!" Michael snorted.
This time, Vader did not respond. His fork stopped in mid-air and goose bumps appeared on his back.
He finally knew what made him feel weird.
Caryl kept talking about "my parents," as if Mrs. Johnson were still alive.
But this... is so weird!
Wasn't Mrs. Johnson dead a long time ago?
Did Mr. Johnson conceal the news of his mother's death when he contacted Khalil?
But from Khalil's tone, it seemed as if his mother still contacted him personally... Although that guy is carefree, if his mother is always "invisible" when contacting him, he would also realize that something is wrong, right?
Wade put down his fork, feeling as if he had swallowed a piece of ice, heavy and completely losing his appetite.
"Hey, look at Professor Abigail!" Michael suddenly said, "Haha, she's dressed up for Christmas in advance!"
Wade turned around and saw that Professor Abigail was wearing a rather cartoon-like Christmas robe. The red robe had a furry white edge and was decorated with patterns of Christmas trees, bells, stars, and the like.
She even wore a red pointed hat, like the one Santa Claus wore. Professor McGonagall looked at her in surprise, while Hagrid had a silly look on his face, hesitating whether to remind his colleagues that Christmas was still a few days away.
Dumbledore was so amazed at her outfit that he made himself a pointy Santa hat with a sparkling star on top.
Over at Gryffindor, Fred whistled and said loudly, "Professor, you look fabulous in this outfit!"
"Haha, not bad!" Professor Abigail proudly put her hands on her hips, showing off her unique outfit, and said, "Although I won't be staying in school during the holidays, for me, today is my Christmas at Hogwarts!"
"Yes! That's it! Today is our Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, Fred!"
"Merry Christmas, George!"
The Gryffindors all joined in the booing. Some slammed the tables and stamped their feet, some clapped, and some even sang Christmas songs.
The originally slightly dull atmosphere suddenly became warm. Professor Flitwick pointed his wand upwards, and large flakes of white snow fell from above. Some fairies carrying flower baskets flew around above the auditorium.
Lee Jordan from Gryffindor jumped up and shouted to the teachers' table, "Professor, can we have some mead? Professor!"
Dumbledore said cheerfully, "Why not?"
He waved his wand, and suddenly yellow mead appeared on every table. Although the quantity was not large, the students were almost crazy with joy.
Only Wade's expression did not change, and he silently moved the apple juice in front of himself.
"Don't get drunk, kids."
Amid the cheers, Dumbledore said happily, "Because you all oversleep and miss the train tomorrow morning."
But no one in the class was listening anymore; they happily began to pour wine, and the house-elves even delivered some special Christmas candies to the long table at the right time. The air was filled with sweet fragrance and happiness.
They all said -
"Merry Christmas, Hogwarts!"
"Om————"
Vader seemed to have heard some long sound vaguely, and he subconsciously opened another level of vision, seeing that the protective magic flowing through the entire castle remained the same.
It’s just that…those golden magic runes seemed to be more active, and the delicate magic lines became clearer, as if the castle was cheering along with the students.
……
Early the next morning, the student who was not good at drinking was still rolling on the bed with his head in his hands, but Wade had already packed his things and left the dormitory.
He first went to the library and used the copying spell to copy the book he was going to read during the holidays, so that he could bypass the library's limit on the number of books he could borrow.
It's a pity that many books that come with powerful protective magic are forbidden to be copied, otherwise Wade would be able to build another library sooner or later.
There were a lot of books to copy, but Wade could go back in time, and by the time he finished, Hermione had also arrived at the library.
She borrowed several large books for herself and stuffed them all into a backpack cast with a traceless extension charm.
"Let's go, Wade." Hermione checked the time and urged, "We're about to leave."
"it is good."
Wade put on his backpack and they walked towards Professor McGonagall's office together.
On the way, Hermione suddenly said, "Wade, will you keep taking these courses like Percy did until you get twelve OWLs?"
"Well, there is such a plan," said Wade.
He glanced at Hermione, who looked troubled, and said, "You don't need to refer to my opinion. Follow your own ideas and pace."
"I also hope to get all the certificates, but..."
Hermione frowned, revealing a subtle annoyance. "Professor Trelawney's Divination class is completely meaningless. She always encourages students to talk nonsense. To be honest, Arithmetic Divination is much more interesting."
"Every course has its meaning...but for now, there is really no need to take the Divination course." Wade agreed.
Useful knowledge is all in books, and you can just listen to Professor Trelawney's pretending to be mysterious words.
Although Wade felt that he had some talent in divination... he had always been very cautious about it.
According to historical legends, few of those who believed in divination had a good ending, and almost no one could change their so-called "bad" fate.
Rather than struggling in vain to change the outcome, or even having your own decision become a factor in your fate, it is better to move forward without knowing anything.
"So you're going to go on?" Hermione asked.
"Well...just assume that I have a habit of collecting all achievements." Wade said.
Hermione was speechless for a moment, then added, "Actually, Muggle Studies isn't that helpful to me... I want to discuss this with my parents during this holiday, and maybe I'll give up two courses later."
"That's good. You've been working yourself too hard lately." Wade agreed, "It would be more beneficial to learn the subjects you are good at."
Hermione gave Wade a resentful look.
The other party did not seem to notice that it was because there was Wade, a student in the same grade who took all the courses, that Hermione felt more pressure. Even though she hated Divination class, she always gritted her teeth and went to attend it.
She was hesitant because of this reason - as a Muggle-born student, Hermione felt a little inferior and uneasy.
So she always pushed herself to do her best, fearing that she would not do well on the exam, that she had not prepared for the questions the professor would ask, and that she would be surpassed by others.
But to Wade, it seemed that the issues she was hesitating about were all very simple - suitable, or not suitable.
Hermione secretly exhaled, and suddenly made a decision -
Stick with it for another half semester. If you really can't get the same results from those two classes, then... just give up.
As they were talking, they had already arrived at Professor McGonagall's office.
Wade knocked on the door, and then he heard Professor McGonagall's voice: "Come in!"
They walked into the office and took off the time-turner hanging around their necks. When they handed it over, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, but Wade was very reluctant to part with it.
Professor McGonagall couldn't help but laugh when she saw this: "Don't worry, you'll be able to get it back in three weeks."
She locked the time-turner into the box and put it back on the shelf, saying to the two, "Go... the carriage is waiting for you."
Wade said goodbye to Hermione and left. When he walked out of the castle, he saw students from several colleges getting ready to set off. Hagrid was already waiting outside the castle with a team of Thestrals.
This short yet long semester has finally come to an end.
(End of this chapter)