The students scattered in a frenzy, screaming and running wildly all over the classroom.
After all, Boggart wasn't a real "ghost woman." Each time the person closest to it changed, it would pause for a moment, stunned.
So the "ghost woman" flickered like a faulty signal—sometimes fierce and terrifying, sometimes confused and lost. Its state switched frequently, and this poor creature seemed completely baffled by the students.
But since its appearance didn't fundamentally change, the terrified students hardly noticed this.
Only Wade stood still and looked at Boggart, and then glanced at Professor Troka who clearly had no control over the situation.
He realized the new professor's expression was a bit dazed, as if he had never anticipated this happening in class, causing his "CPU" to short-circuit, unable to react for a moment.
After a frantic round of running around like headless flies, the crowd in the classroom basically split into two groups.
Most hid behind Professor Troka, while a small group cowered behind Wade.
Wade sighed quietly and took a couple of steps forward.
He was actually curious to find out what he feared most. And he felt that even if Voldemort or a relative's corpse suddenly appeared in the classroom the next moment, he would clearly know it was just magic and wouldn't lose his composure.
The ghost woman quickly approached.
Snap!
With a crisp sound, the terrifying centipede-ghost instantly vanished, replaced by something nobody expected.
"Ah… ahhh…"
Daphne's face went pale as she tightly shut her eyes and hid in the corner as if she genuinely wanted to squeeze herself into the crack between walls.
After screaming for a while, she suddenly noticed the screams around her had stopped. She quickly closed her mouth and then quietly opened one eye.
The terrifying image she had imagined—the ghost woman right in front of her with a gaping bloody mouth—wasn't there. Summoning her courage, she looked around and saw no ghost woman at all, but instead a…
"Fish tank?" Malfoy voiced what everyone was thinking. He raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, "Grey, your biggest fear is a fish tank?"
He deliberately acted casual, as if he hadn't been the first to run behind Professor Troka after Boggart transformated into a ghost woman.
Malfoy let out a burst of laughter and looked left and right, expecting others to laugh at Wade with him. But even Goyle just stared ahead blankly and his face showed nothing but confusion.
Malfoy looked back at the center of the classroom.
Well, looking closely, this fish tank is indeed somewhat creepy—
Inside the transparent crystal fish tank, there was only one small fish swimming very slowly, and the water was very clear—nothing unusual about that.
But above the fish tank extended a dense ring of pink fleshy nerves. At first glance, they looked like petal-shaped decorations, but on closer inspection, each tip held a round eyeball, all of which were staring fixedly down at the fish tank.
This Cthulhu-like scene made Malfoy belatedly break out in goosebumps, as if sensing some invisible, enormous terrifying presence.
He rubbed his arm and quietly asked Pansy beside him, "Is this a scene from some movie? Have you seen it?"
Pansy shook her head and murmured softly, "So creepy... What kind of stuff does Grey usually watch?"
The murmurs of confusion and surprise seemed to rouse the dazed Wade. He stepped forward, pointed his wand at the Boggart, and calmly said, "Riddikulus!"
Snap!
The fish tank disappeared, replaced by a man in black with an old-fashioned camera balanced on his neck. He took a step forward, then "plop" fell down, flailing his limbs on the ground like he was doing dryland swimming.
Malfoy's sharp eyes noticed a slight twitch at the corner of Wade's mouth, as if he really found the scene amusing.
He couldn't help but say to those nearby, "That Grey guy… there is something a bit off about him, right?"
"What? No, I don't think so,"
Goldstein, also hiding behind Professor Troka, offered a reason on behalf of his housemate:
"You find this scene weird, but maybe it's because he watched some strange cartoons as a kid, and it left a bit of a psychological scar."
"How nice."
Terry said enviously, "He had countless cartoons and movies to watch as a kid. I only had the muddy puddle outside my house to play in."
—Since when did mudbloods become something enviable?
Malfoy rolled his eyes, about to say this, but then glanced at the few Ravenclaws beside him and at the tall figure of Professor Troka ahead, and finally swallowed his words.
At this moment, Professor Troka finally snapped out of it. With a flick of his wand, he threw the Boggart, which had been crawling on the ground unable to get up, back into the box.
He cleared his throat and looked at everyone.
"Except for Wade Grey, I am very dissatisfied with all of your performances just now!"
Professor Troka slightly intensified his tone. Seeing the students who had panicked and fled lower their heads under his gaze, he finally breathed a slow sigh, pretending that the earlier chaotic classroom was exactly what he intended.
With another wave of his wand, he made the wands, books, crystal balls, and other objects that had been carelessly thrown on the floor fly back to their places, then said:
"I think you've realized by now that running away is the most useless approach, and throwing away your wand is even more foolish!"
"The way to deal with a Boggart is with the Riddikulus charm, but if your mind is confused and your willpower weak, standing together with others is also a way to cope!"
Professor Troka paced around the classroom, repeatedly emphasizing in a cold tone how to deal with the Boggart, then had everyone review the spell several more times.
Only when more than half the class time had passed did they resume practical exercises.
This time, the students lined up neatly and went up to face the challenge one by one, finally becoming much more orderly.
However, every time the centipede ghost appeared, it still caused a quiet chorus of small gasps.
...
As Wade had expected, the story about the fish tank quickly spread within a small circle.
At dinner, the SSC group sat near Wade and ate with hesitant expressions—wanting to ask questions but afraid to. Their faces looked somewhat troubled.
The Weasley twins, however, paid no attention to anyone's possible "fragile feelings." The two of them boldly marched over carrying a fish tank, which even had a small fish inside that probably came from the Black Lake.
"Look, Wade! The scariest thing in the whole world!" Fred said with a mischievous grin.
"Get over your psychological shadow! If you're scared, we'll help you get over it together!"
George smirked and patted the fish tank before placing it on the long table in front of Wade. Theo and Ryan, sitting opposite, quickly moved several plates out of the way.
"Hey, you guys!"
Hermione stormed over angrily. Before she could scold them, Wade poked the fish tank and said:
"Who said I'm scared of this? You'd better put this dogfish back into the lake. It has very strict requirements for its environment and will die easily."
The twins exchanged a glance, puzzled. "Huh? But we heard... the Boggart turned into a fish tank in front of you?"
Seeing many around them curious and listening closely, Wade wanted to explain, so he patiently said:
"In the vast starry sky—each star could be a sun, even an entire galaxy. We live in the solar system, but the outside world is huge, so huge it can be said to have no boundaries."
"Oh..." Harry asked blankly, "What does that have to do with a fish tank?"
Wade said, "A Muggle scientist once raised a question—if there are many alien civilizations in the universe, why haven't we found any signs of extraterrestrial life yet?"
"It's like being in a huge body of water—under what circumstances would there be only one fish?"
"Either there is a great danger in the water, and all the other fish have unfortunately died, leaving only this one fish that survived by an extremely rare, extremely lucky chance."
"Or—"
Wade tapped the transparent fish tank and said:
"It looks like a vast world, but it's actually just a small fish tank. This fish is being raised here—and the person raising it only wants to keep one fish."
"The little fish looks like it's swimming freely in the water, but in reality, it spends its whole life trapped inside this fish tank, never able to leave. It doesn't even know that outside the tank, there are eyes watching it."
He spoke calmly, but whether it was because of vivid imagination or heightened sensitivity, several people suddenly shivered.
"I think I understand why you're afraid of that kind of thing…" Harry murmured.
He imagined himself as the "only fish in the fish tank" and suddenly felt that even being with the Dursleys would be better than that.
"Why can't it be that the ocean is just so vast, and this fish is small and slow, so it hasn't encountered any other fish?"
A dazed voice came from behind. Wade turned around and saw Luna, who had somehow appeared there. After listening for a while, she suddenly interrupted and said seriously:
"And you were wrong just now—it's not only Earth that has life! Someone once flew to the moon and brought back a bag of sparkling moon frogs. If we can fly to Mars, to the sun, maybe we'll find even more amazing life forms!"
"Oh, Luna! Stop saying these crazy things! People will laugh at you."
A girl from Luna's dormitory covered her face with one hand and reached out to pull Luna away.
Wade smiled and said, "Maybe you're right… I haven't seen the world beyond Earth with my own eyes, so I can't be sure there's no other form of life out there. But if one day…"
He paused, then said, "One day, if this small and slow fish really meets other fish, will they live together in peace? Or will it immediately become prey for a predator?"
Luna blinked slowly and said, "...How could anyone know?"
"Exactly…" Wade looked at her and said, "That's the problem."
There was a long silence.
Especially at the Ravenclaw table, many students furrowed their brows and pondered unsolvable questions like "What if the universe is a vast wasteland," "The fish's caretaker who observes it," and "Why do we exist?"
Luna was thoughtfully pulled away by her friends, her gaze was more dreamy than before, as if she was lost between sleep and wakefulness.
When Wade turned back, he found the huge fish tank in front of him had been moved by someone, and Theo had placed quite a bit of food on his plate. Just as Wade looked over, a thick slice of toast fell onto his plate.
"Theo, what are you doing?" Wade asked, puzzled.
"I heard that being hungry makes people pessimistic, prone to negative emotions," Theo said with a conflicted expression. "Wade… eat more for dinner."
Wade looked at him, then at the plate.
He turned to Ryan and said, "Is he subtly mocking me?"
Ryan stifled a laugh and silently showed support for Theo by putting a potato on Wade's plate.
While everyone else was silent, the only thought running through the two Hufflepuffs' minds was—why bother thinking about this? Just scaring themselves.
…
Malfoy was angrily, realizing that the topic he had so carefully spread—"Wade Grey is actually afraid of a fish tank"—was quickly fading away, replaced by grand yet meaningless philosophical questions.
Even during Astronomy class, Professor Sinistra had added a white fish tank symbol to her hat and, while everyone was observing the starry sky, told the legends of various constellations. In the end, she said all of them were just made-up stories.
During the History of Magic class, Pansy suddenly sighed and said, "If our world is just a huge fish tank, then I'll always like you, Draco. I don't care if anyone's watching our relationship."
Usually, such a confession would make Malfoy feel sweet, but now it just made him frown.
—Why is everyone taking Wade Grey's random words seriously? That guy's so obsessed with these questions that he even made the boggart turn into a fish tank. Do you all want that too?
—Speaking of which, why did the boggart really turn into a fish tank with eyeballs? Compared to that theory, the centipede ghost looks way scarier, doesn't it?
Malfoy felt something strange but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
But he didn't really want to delve into Wade Grey's thoughts either. After thinking for a bit, he let it go and eagerly looked forward to the afternoon.
Last semester, when Hagrid taught Care of Magical Creatures for the first time, he brought in some Hippogriffs. Malfoy angered one of them, and even Harry Potter got scratched by the beast.
Later, due to "certain someone's" threats, Malfoy had to swallow his pride and didn't try to persuade his father to fire Hagrid. In exchange, Hagrid promised to take him to see a dragon.
But every day afterward, Malfoy had to serve detention with professor Snape because of an earlier incident where he almost killed Crabbe, so he never got the chance to see the dragon.
Recently, after Malfoy's repeated urging, Hagrid finally made an effort and "stole" a detention opportunity from Professor Snape for Malfoy.
Seeing the time was nearly right, Malfoy happily headed toward Hagrid's hut, trying to hold back from jumping in excitement. But as he got closer, his expression suddenly darkened.
—Why are the most annoying ones all here?
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
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