124: Astoria

124: Astoria

John walked into the Room of Requirement, snapped his fingers, and entered the Gryffindor's secret chamber once again, deep in thought.

"Shouldn't I have my own secret chamber too?" he wondered aloud.

He mused about how the four founders of Hogwarts each had their own secret chambers. If he was going to establish the Constellation Society in the future, wouldn't it be strange if they didn't have a base of operations?

Surely he can use this or the Slytherin's chamber but with his current level of alchemy, and if he upgraded his knowledge of runes a bit more, creating a secret chamber of his own wouldn't be difficult.

There are only two formal members of the Constellation Society, including those who are not in school. The first is Fleur and the second is Heinrich.

In his plans, John had already identified three more candidates.

Percy from Gryffindor, Malfoy from Slytherin, and Neville Longbottom.

First, there was Percy Weasley from Gryffindor. Percy was an ambitious person seeking glory and success. He was a super scholar with twelve certificates, and John saw him as a key player in infiltrating the Ministry of Magic.

Next was Draco Malfoy from Slytherin. As a pure-blood and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, Malfoy's family connections and reputation, though not great, were still valuable. He could be a potential bargaining chip to undermine Voldemort later on.

Finally, there was Neville Longbottom, the future Gryffindor's Sword's chosen one. If you considered the entirety of the story, aside from Dumbledore, Neville was one of the only two people capable of wielding the Sword of Gryffindor.

All three had incredible potential, and John had already reserved spots for them in his Constellation Society.

Daphne and Hermione were also in his consideration, but after thinking it through, John felt Hermione's chances of joining were slim.

Let's not even talk about the trio, who are undoubtedly aligned with Dumbledore's side. Even Hermione herself wouldn't abandon Harry to join the Constellation Society.

"Cedric is also a decent option, but unfortunately, I haven't really interacted with him much," John mused, rubbing his chin.

He had seen Cedric's abilities firsthand, and the Hufflepuff was quite popular within his house.

He wondered if inviting Cedric would even work.

After running through his list of potential candidates, John still couldn't decide on the remaining members.

"For now, I'll stick with the initial group. Once the Wick's Secret Chamber is built, I'll start sending out invitations."

With this resolution, John left the Room of Requirement. He needed some materials to construct the chamber.

As the future headquarters for the Constellation Society, he didn't want it to look too shabby.

John headed to Hagrid's hut and asked for help in finding some materials, mainly wood. Hagrid enthusiastically pounded his massive chest, promising to gather everything John needed.

After some more conversation, Hagrid quickly urged John to leave.

His eagerness to get rid of him struck John as odd, so he glanced curiously inside, spotting Fang.

"Eh? If Fang's in there, who's Tom playing with?" John thought, puzzled as he made his way back to Slytherin.

In the days that followed, John was frequently absent, disappearing without a trace. Even Draco Malfoy struggled to find him at times.

Meanwhile, Professor Lupin's exceptional teaching skills filled in the gaps from the previous two years of Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

By October 15th, Halloween was drawing closer, and the air seemed filled with a sense of joy.

It was as though Sirius Black lurking outside didn't concern anyone inside the castle.

The Dementors greedily sniffed the happy emotions emanating from the castle, and they were a little restless.

In the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione's pet, Crookshanks, once again attacked Scabbers, Ron's pet rat, which infuriated Ron.

He angrily grabbed his bag and tried to toss Crookshanks out, leading to a heated argument with Hermione.

Hermione stormed off in anger, while Ron sulked over the incident, leaving Harry awkwardly stuck in the middle, unsure of what to say or how to fix things.

Over at the Quidditch pitch.

'Oh? So she is not acting angry today?'

'Girls.. truly unpredictable creatures..'

"John?"

"Oh! I think I will," John replied.

"Hmm?" Noticing the little girl next to Daphne, John asked, puzzled, "Who's this?"

"Hehe!" Daphne proudly said, "This is my sister, Astoria. She's a first-year Slytherin student."

John looked at the first-year girl, who was wearing the Slytherin uniform, her delicate features already starting to show.

Like her sister Daphne, she had blonde hair. However, while Daphne exuded pride and arrogance, Astoria seemed much more gentle and well-behaved.

She blinked at John, her eyes full of curiosity. "You're John Wick, right? My sister talks about you a lot—!"

"Astoria!"

Hearing her younger sister say this, Daphne's face showed a mix of panic and embarrassment. She quickly covered Astoria's mouth to stop her from saying anything more.

John glanced at Daphne, wondering what she had been saying about him at home.

In a fluster, Daphne hurriedly led her sister away, clearly afraid that Astoria might reveal more.

John shook his head and thought, 'I'd better speed up the construction of that secret room.'

Malfoy sidled up to him, looking a bit dazzled. He asked, "Who was that little girl just now?"

Hearing this, John turned to see Malfoy's astonished expression. It was true, the girl was quite pretty.

He responded casually, "Daphne's sister. Oh, and by the way, give me back the badge."

"I just took a couple of glances, is that really necessary?" Malfoy clutched the badge on his chest, full of regret.

If he'd known this would happen, he wouldn't have asked. Who would've thought a single question would cost him his badge?

John gave him a sidelong glance. 'Do I really seem that petty?'

"I'm just worried you'll lose the badge in Hogsmeade, so I'm keeping it safe for now."

"Alright..." Malfoy replied, still somewhat doubtful.

John pocketed the badge; he was planning to add a function that allowed access to the Constellation Society.

In other words, a system upgrade.

Heinrich approached. His pale, handsome face now bore an unsightly boil.

"Did you get into another fight with the twins?"

"Don't worry! I can live with this!" Heinrich said nonchalantly.

"Sigh~ This guy. Stop acting so stoic, will ya'?"

Staring at the boil, John raised his hand and gently brushed it. The once hideous boil gradually shrank, eventually disappearing.

A cool sensation passed over Heinrich's face.

"Ah, thank you, my friend."

"Those twins are indeed many steps ahead of me with things like this. But!" His eyes flashed with a sinister glint as he muttered, "One day, I'll make them suffer a thousand times worse."

'What a grudge,' John thought, raising an eyebrow. He could only hope the twins would take care of themselves.

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