Chapter 102: The Study Group

Chapter 102: The Study Group

After a long while—

Ginny, with tear-stained cheeks, spoke, "Professor, will I... will I be expelled?"

"You need not worry about that. I assure you."

...

When Ginny returned to her seat, her eyes red from crying, Ron and the twins stared at her.

Ron wanted to say something, but Ginny completely ignored him. She moved a small chair close to Luna's side, where Luna softly hummed an odd little tune in her ear.

For the rest of the time, the twins were somewhat fidgety, but fortunately, Professor Harp allowed them to hand in their suggestions and then dismissed them with a wave.

"Ginny, what happened?" Not far from leaving the office, George couldn't help but be concerned for his sister.

Ginny shook her head.

"Did Professor Harp scold you, Ginny? I mean, it was a bit risky going into the Forbidden Forest, right, Fred?"

Fred immediately chimed in without hesitation, "Absolutely right. If you're interested in the Forbidden Forest, I can show you around... though it's not really that exciting, just trees, rocks, and flowers."

She clenched her lips tightly, remaining silent.

Luna and Ginny held hands, and in a sing-song voice, Luna said, "Professor Harp is quite reasonable, isn't he? But your complexion does seem a bit off. I suggest you visit the school nurse."

"Thank you, Luna."

"How did you kn—"

"Fred, George, and Ron, I'm fine. I just...," Ginny took a deep breath, "encountered some trouble earlier, and Professor Harp helped me out."

Seeing her brothers about to ask more, she said sternly, "I won't tell you." Then, Ginny grabbed Luna's hand and briskly walked away.

Watching her retreating figure, Fred remarked with a hint of nostalgia, "Ginny's grown up, no longer just a little tag-along."

George quipped, "So, you miss the old days, then?"

"Well, don't we usually yearn for things precisely because we can't return?" Fred made a wry face.

The two of them playfully bantered.

In the following week, Hogwarts remained as calm as ever.

Every evening, the nine young wizards reported to Professor Harp's Ancient Runes office and carried out various testing tasks as per his instructions.

In truth, most of their detentions were scheduled for weekends. Only Ron, due to his "particularly grave" behavior, coupled with a strong recommendation from Lockhart, found himself in continuous detention for a full thirty days.

However, when Professor Harp promised them that subsequent detentions could be offset by completing the current ones, the other young wizards scarcely struggled and willingly requested to finish their detentions under his supervision.

With Marcus's intellect, he couldn't contribute particularly insightful ideas. However, he essentially represented the lower limit of the young wizards. As a pure test subject, he repeatedly exposed bugs in the "Answering Space."

Such situations as, "Professor, why did the writing on the parchment disappear?" and the response, "Oh, you took too long to think, it thought you fell asleep."

Until the morning of the tenth day, Felix woke up early, preparing to go to the Room of Requirement to complete that day's magical practice.

He had only recently discovered this room's function.

In truth, he stumbled upon the Room of Requirement by accident during the first attack, but he always thought it was a mysterious chamber for hiding things.

At most, the concealment magic applied to it was decent, worth studying. However, this matter was relatively low on his priority list.

It wasn't until the diary of Tom Riddle told him the true secret of this room that he regained interest.

The Room of Requirement could adapt its internal environment flexibly based on the user's desires, fulfilling their needs.

This practically set his research desires ablaze in an instant. Yet, using his existing knowledge, Felix couldn't decipher the room's secrets at all. He could only catch faint glimpses of magical pathways crisscrossing the room from hidden vantage points.

'The magical supply of the Room of Requirement is rooted in Hogwarts' thousand-year-old castle.'

That was Felix's conjecture.

Although his research was hindered, he devised a new purpose: practicing spells within it.

Here, he could wield his full power without reservation, including his Instant Kill technique. The benefits were clear—now, he didn't need to spend an hour wandering deep into the Forbidden Forest for practice.

...

As dawn broke, Felix walked along the empty corridor.

Having completed today's training and preparing to head downstairs to the kitchen for some food, he unexpectedly collided with Lockhart.

Lockhart was dragging a large box and had two small ones floating behind him.

"Professor Lockhart?"

The sudden voice startled Lockhart, causing the two boxes he was struggling to control to crash to the ground with a thud.

"Who's there?" Lockhart whispered.

Felix's figure descended from the steps, as he sized up Lockhart, "Professor Lockhart, are you about to go out?"

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