"You two!"
Madam Pince appeared behind Andy and Hermione at some point, she crossed her arms and said in a stern tone, "I've noticed you two from a while ago. This is a library, if you two continue to talk, then I'll have no choice but to ask you out!"
Hermione's face instantly paled, and her eyes reddened slightly, her whole person looking dilated.
As a top-tier student, she had never been criticized so harshly by a teacher before.
"Sorry, Madam!"
Andy said in a sincere tone, "It's our fault, we promise we won't talk in the library in the future, please give us another chance."
"Only this time!" Madam Pince gave the two a look, then turned to leave.
"It's okay!" After Madam Pince left, Andy casually shrugged his shoulders.
As long as one's face is thick enough, even the scandal at the level of social death can be treated as if nothing happened, let alone just being criticized for two sentences.
Andy had long gotten used to it.
But the little witch obviously didn't think so, she didn't even look at Andy, her eyes kept staring at the book, and her mouth seemed to be sealed by magic - not to mention paying attention to Andy, it was as if there was no Andy in her sight.
Andy reached out and poked Hermione with his finger.
"..."
Hermione waved Andy's hand away and then continued to act as if Andy didn't exist.
OK bah!
Andy didn't want to make trouble over nothing, lest the little witch get mad afterwards. Since no one was paying attention to him, he could just keep reading.
Eh! The book has a colourful face.
***
It was nearing noon when Andy and Hermione left the library.
"Are you going to visit Weasley?" Hermione abruptly asked.
Andy: "Huh?"
Hmm, is there something wrong with me to visit him when I have nothing better to do?
"You're finally talking, I thought your mouth was sealed by Madam Pince's spell." Andy teased.
"Madam Pince is right, we really shouldn't be laughing and joking around in the library, it's a public area, and we can't disturb the other students."
Hermione said seriously before continuing, "I heard that you and Weasley are friends, that's why I told you about their point deduction."
So it was like this!
Andy thought so, why was Hermione gossiping all of a sudden?
"Forget it."
Andy thought for a moment, "I think the best they would hope for right now is that no one notices them."
Of course, I'm afraid that would be difficult.
By the time Andy and Hermione arrived in the Great Hall, the story of Harry and Ron being caught on a night out had spread throughout Hogwarts.
Who is Harry Potter?
He was the saviour of the British magical world, a super celebrity who had left his name in the history of magic.
Not to mention at Hogwarts, there was no one in the entire British magical world who didn't know his name.
In the thoughts of a group of young wizards, since such a super celebrity came to Hogwarts, he should have become the best among the young wizards, breaking a series of school records, and then graduating from Hogwarts with all the honours.
But who would have thought that as soon as Harry Potter had broken the records and joined Gryffindor's Quidditch team as a first year in one foot, he would slash off Gryffindor by fifty points in the back foot.
A hundred points if you count the Saviour's follower.
It was less than a week into the academic year now, so Gryffindor didn't have a total of a hundred points to deduct.
It was also worth mentioning that under the unremitting efforts of a certain professor in the Potions class, Gryffindor's score was originally at the bottom of the four Houses.
Now it had become a negative score.
If Harry and his sidekick had gotten points deducted for fighting with Slytherin, then the young lions would have called them heroes.
But they had been caught red-handed by Filch on a night out.
That was a Squib!
In the young lions' values, there was nothing more humiliating than being caught by Filch during a night out.
Andy had just walked into the Great Hall when he heard the whole of Gryffindor talking about it.
The Slytherins were gloating, while the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were eating quietly and voicing their opinions on the matter from time to time.
As Andy walked over to the long Ravenclaw table, he also heard someone questioning in whispers - with Harry Potter's powers, how on earth did he defeat the You-Know-Who?
It was a killing curse that would kill on touch and had no counterspell.
Not wanting to discuss the matter, Andy picked up his fork and speared a grilled sausage, then turned to Hermione and asked, "Have you thought about it yet, are you going to go practice flying?"
"Not going!"
Hermione shook her head, "We've got a year of flying lessons ahead of us, we can always take our time practising. Might as well read a few more books and practice some magic with that time. Besides, I hate flying."
"You're actually afraid of heights, aren't you..."
Andy's voice trailed off under Hermione's angry glare. Blinking, Andy was quick to change the subject, "By the way, I have some personal business this afternoon, so I might have to go out."
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Anyway, you'll find out in a few days, I can't tell you yet."
Andy looked secretive, "It's a big secret, so if anyone asks, just tell them I've been with you this afternoon."
"Che! Who cares."
Hermione tilted her chin up proudly, then turned her head sharply to look at Andy, "You wouldn't possibly spend the afternoon with Ma..."
"Of course not! If it wasn't for the sake of getting a reliable professor, would I bother to talk to him?"
Andy quickly assured, "Don't worry, it isn't about going to the third-floor corridor either."
"Hmph!" Hermione lightly grunted and turned her head and no longer paid attention to Andy.
After eating, Andy instructed Hermione again and again, after getting Hermione's repeated assurances, Andy finally left with peace of mind.
First, he went to the Owlery to send the letter to Malfoy, and then Andy sneaked to the third floor of the castle alone.
"This should be the place!"
Andy stood in front of a statue of a one-eyed witch, tapped the statue with his wand, and muttered, "Dissendium!"
Click!
The statue's humped back slowly turned open, revealing a downward-facing stone slide.
This was the vital information that Andy had traded from the Weasley twins in exchange for Snape's secret - a secret passage to Hogsmeade.
"Those two are a real talent!"
Andy exclaimed, sliding down the stone slide.
The slide was long, and Andy probably slid for about ten minutes before touching the flat ground.
Andy looked around, in front of him was a staircase of more than two hundred steps, at the end of which was a movable door, which led to the cellar of the Honeydukes Sweetshop.
Andy walked up the steps and pushed the door to open a crack.
"Good, there's no one in the cellar!" Andy breathed a sigh of relief.
It is Saturday, so the Honeydukes Sweetshop is very busy, and Andy walks out of the cellar without alerting anyone at all.
"Perfect secret passage!" Andy nodded.
"Hmm..."
Andy mentally calculated the date.
Today is Saturday, 9/7/91. Then September 19th would be...Thursday!
----
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Thanks for all your love and support.
Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
"This can't be right!"
Hogsmeade only opens on Saturdays to young wizards of third year and above, and it would be too obvious if they came over on a Thursday.
Andy found Mr. Flume, the owner of the candy store.
After buying some candies, Andy pretended to ask casually, "Sir, if I come over on Thursday, I shouldn't be caught by the professor, right?"
"Of course!"
Mr. Flume winked, "For example, I wouldn't tell just anyone that a little first-year wizard came into my store."
Andy: "..."
"Is it that obvious?" Andy wondered a bit.
Mr. Flume didn't say anything, he first compared Andy's height with his hand and then pointed to the others in the store.
Well, it turned out that it was the height that betrayed me.
Andy's height was quite impressive among the young wizards of his age, but the difference was obvious when compared to the upperclassmen.
"Thanks!" Andy thanked him and then left the Honeydukes Candy Shop.
Andy had come over to make sure of the way today.
September 19th is Hermione's birthday, and Andy is going to bring the little witch over to have some fun.
Since he is bringing a girl on a date, Andy of course needs to know the information beforehand, so that he won't be ignorant of the place when the time comes.
Being embarrassed is a minor thing, being caught by the professor is a major thing.
Hogsmeade is the only village of pure wizards in the whole of Britain, and the buildings here are full of a strong wizard's flavour. Not only did many wizards live here, but many wizards also opened stores here.
Andy strolled around.
The village was not big, and Andy quickly mapped out the place.
Whether it was for a fun date or to run away if he was caught, Andy could find the route as fast as he could.
"Hi! Andy."
Hearing the voice, Andy turned to look, "Hi! George, and Fred."
"We were wondering..."
"When we'd run into you here."
"We didn't realize you had so much guts."
"Not even a week at Hogwarts and you have the nerve to sneak into Hogsmeade."
George and Fred were talking one at a time, which was characteristic of their speech.
"I was just bored and came out for a stroll," Andy said casually.
"Idle and bored?"
"We thought you might be on a date."
"Or maybe at the library."
"Are you the only one out here? Where's your little girlfriend?"
George and Fred said again, one after the other.
"I'll map out the route and bring her over in a couple of days." Andy wasn't a kid, there was no way he would blush and panic to deny it just because of a few teasing words.
Fred gave a thumbs up, "It's quite something, I can't believe you know how to prepare in advance."
George nodded, "If only Ron could be as smart as you."
"Uh...is he okay?" Andy asked.
Fred shrugged, "He and Harry didn't leave the dormitory all day today, we even brought them breakfast."
How tragic!
"Well, we're off for now. Take your time wandering around on your own, and be careful not to get caught by the professor." George waved his hand and left with Fred.
After getting hold of the map of Hogsmeade, Andy quietly arrived at the Shrieking Shack alone.
Legend had it that this place is the most terrifyingly haunted place in all of Britain.
However, Andy had always thought that the most haunted place in Britain would be Hogwarts - because there are at least dozens of ghosts living there.
Andy circled around the Shrieking Shack and realized that there was no way to enter the place from the outside.
It didn't even have windows, let alone a door.
The good thing was that there was no one here at all, so Andy could do his own thing without worry.
Andy actually had another personal matter to do when he came to Hogsmeade today, besides mapping the area in advance.
That is to learn the first dark magic in his life.
While reading in the library this morning, Andy unintentionally found a dark magic in a book.
It was a proper book, an introduction to the theory of magic.
However, the author of the book gave an example of dark magic when introducing the theory of magic.
The book introduced a lot of details, including the incantations for casting spells, gestures, emotional mindset, and even the theory of magic.
With these, Andy could teach himself this dark magic.
Andy had actually been curious as to why the system separated Charms from Dark Magic.
Wasn't dark magic a magic spell?
"Perhaps today, it will be possible to unveil this mystery initially."
Andy was a little excited in his heart.
After taking out the book that introduced the theory of magic and carefully reading it again, making sure that he had grasped the key points and that he had not missed anything, Andy used the Shrinking Charm to shrink the book and put it into the pocket of his wizard robe.
Andy held his wand in his hand and his demeanour was unconsciously tense.
"Morbus Infestatio (Disease Infestation)!"
Andy pointed his wand at a weed that was over half a man tall, and as the spell was recited, a black and red mist slowly rose from underneath the weed.
The weed withered rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and dense red pus grew on the withered yellow blades and stems, which looked disgusting.
Andy didn't care about the effects of the dark magic but was quietly feeling the state of mind when casting the spell, as well as the changes in his body.
"Hmm... the body has not changed, and the mind seems to be healthy..."
'So this is dark magic?' Andy thought in his mind.
The distinction between white magic and dark magic was never in the destructive power of the magic, white magic also had many powerful magic spells, and their ability was not worse than dark magic.
The definition of dark magic was actually on how the magic took effect and whether it was based on the subjective malice of the caster.
The reason why dark magic is banned is because it is based on the evil side of human nature. When your dark magic is powerful enough, it means that your heart is already evil enough.
And the scary thing about dark magic is the fact that evil will grow at an alarming rate.
After all, it's hard to learn how to be good, but it's easy to learn how to be evil.
Dark magic tended to get better and better the more it was used, and the evil of the caster would get stronger and stronger, and the two were mutually reinforcing.
Andy thought back to the magic theories mentioned in the book and then experienced the emotions he used when casting spells, and in his mind, he had a preliminary understanding of dark magic.
"Hoo-"
"Let's call it a day!"
Andy did not intend to continue trying because Andy did not have the foundation to learn dark magic for the time being.
If the [Mind] attribute applies to all magic, then the [Will] attribute, apart from being able to resist some relatively special magic, is also one of the essential attributes for learning dark magic.
A strong [Mind] and [Will] could resist dark magic.
While Andy's willpower... only a pitiful 2 points.
Andy recalled the contents of the book: in his opinion, the special thing about dark magic does not lie in its great power, but in its in-depth study of life, souls and other taboo areas.
Dark magic is indeed evil, but we can't ignore the merits of it just because it is evil.
----
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!