On Thursday, Wade didn't have many classes—just two overlapping electives in the morning, Herbology in the afternoon, and Astronomy at night.
However, since he needed to carve out time for an Alchemy lesson with Professor Murray, Wade still got up early and went to the school infirmary to pick up the wolf cub.
As usual, he skipped the long hallways and staircases, and chose instead to fly on his broom leisurely along the windows. A minute later, he arrived outside the infirmary window.
He placed his hand on the window, and with a silent, wandless Unlocking Charm, the latch on the inside rotated quietly. Just as he was about to open the window and climb in, he suddenly heard a voice—
"Ah!" Malfoy screamed. It sounded like he had just jumped out of bed.
Wade froze mid-movement, wondering if he had picked the wrong window.
He was about to quietly turn and leave when he heard more voices inside.
"Good morning, Draco," a girl said with a slightly teasing tone. "Sorry, I guess the way I woke you was a little... rough."
"Are you insane? What are you doing?" Malfoy said angrily. "My bed is soaked! Madam Pomfrey will be here any second!"
Laughter erupted from the other people in the room, tinged with mockery, as if they thought his reaction was childish.
Wade cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and calmly hovered outside the window to peek in.
Five or six students stood around Malfoy's bed, almost surrounding him. Malfoy had jumped down from the bed, and was dripping wet and clearly flustered.
Wade glanced at them and mentally noted down a few names before letting his gaze settle on the only familiar face.
[Caryll Johnson]
He was younger than the others by a few years but wasn't short, so he blended in seamlessly.
Wade suddenly realized he hadn't seen Caryll in a while… Technically, they'd spoken before the holiday, so it had only been a little over a month, but Caryll had changed noticeably.
His once soft, round face had thinned out, and his eyes had grown calm, as if he'd suddenly aged several years. There was even a trace of world-weariness in his expression.
At that moment, while the others laughed, Caryll's face remained impassive. He lowered his eyelids slightly, as if he hadn't fully woken up.
"Don't make such a big deal out of it, Draco," another boy said with a grin. "A little charm will fix that in no time. Didn't you learn anything in Charms class?"
With a wave of his wand, the water vanished from the bed, leaving only faint traces of dampness.
"Sorry, I never needed to learn those… What do you call them again? Domestic spells?" Malfoy sneered. "What, can't your family afford house-elves?"
The boy stopped laughing, but didn't get angry. He just shrugged and replied, "Not every family is like the Malfoys—able to keep growing the wealth left by their ancestors instead of squandering it away."
"What, you really don't even have a house-elf?" one of his companions asked in surprise, with a kind of naive innocence.
"We have one, but Blu is already very old," the boy explained. "My mother did let him try to breed, but you know… that kind of thing isn't so easy."
"Ugh, stop talking about those filthy house-elves," a haughty girl interrupted. "Just thinking about their faces makes me sick. Draco, you haven't come to our gatherings for a while—what's wrong, planning to drop out?"
"Don't you people know? I've been stuck in detention this whole time! All because of that spell you taught me… damn that Entrail-Expelling Curse! I'm stuck in detention for a whole year!" Malfoy said irritably.
The boy quickly shushed him: "Shh—shhh—keep your voice down! You want to bring Madam Pomfrey over here?"
Someone chuckled. "That's not our fault. I warned you that spell was dangerous—but satisfying, right? Didn't it feel good to use it on a traitor?"
"Satisfying?" Malfoy said stubbornly. "It nearly made me puke!"
"Well, I've got class," the haughty girl said. "Malfoy, we're having a gathering tonight at the usual place. If you want to come, just fake a sick day. Of course, if you want to quit, all you have to do is…"
She paused, then smiled. "…say the word."
Her smile was full of implication—as if saying, 'Try to quit and I'll wring your neck.'
A moment later, Malfoy's voice came from inside the room: "…I'll be there."
"That's better."
The group filed out one by one. The boy at the end even swiped a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from the bedside table.
Malfoy stood by the bed, clutching the ring in his hand with his expression shifting between anger and frustration.
Wade didn't watch any longer. He gently steered his broom away from the window.
He recalled how Malfoy had injured Crabbe and his parents had come to the school to deal with it.
Dumbledore had punished him with a full year of detention—unprecedented at Hogwarts. '
Lucius Malfoy didn't object and simply handed the matter over to Professor Snape. At the time, Draco had probably felt relatively secure, knowing full well how much Snape favored him.
But the reality turned out very differently. Draco Malfoy's detention was brutally strict. Apart from attending classes, he spent nearly all his time in detention, and even had to ask Snape for time to complete his homework.
It was said that Snape would review his essays during detention. With other professors, that might have been a rare learning opportunity, but with Snape's style… for Draco, it was more like daily psychological torment.
Word had it he went back crying more than once.
Thinking about it now… Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, and Snape may not have shared the same exact views, but in this matter, their intentions were clearly aligned.
They were using the excuse of detention to force Draco Malfoy to cut ties with people he shouldn't associate with.
But from the look of it, Draco Malfoy himself didn't seem to see it that way.
By the time Wade entered the ward where the wolf cub was resting, his mind was already made up.
He calmly wrote a detailed account of what he had just witnessed on a piece of parchment, made two copies, folded them into paper cranes, and watched as the pale yellow birds flapped their wings and flew out the window.
One paper crane flew toward the Headmaster's office, the other to Professor Snape.
Draco Malfoy's gathering tonight probably wouldn't go so smoothly now. Who knew—maybe the professors would take the opportunity to dismantle that little student group of his.
As Wade leaned by the window, watching the paper cranes disappear into the distance, the wolf cub on the hospital bed had already rolled over and gotten up. He quietly pulled back the curtain a crack, and peeked at Wade through his round, curious eyes.
Wade suddenly turned his head, startling the wolf cub, who gave a little yelp and quickly ducked back under the covers.
"Hello," Wade didn't come closer, but spoke gently. "My name is Wade Grey. How are your wounds feeling?"
A moment later, the wolf cub poked his head out from the curtain again.
"Much better," he said in a childlike voice. "Thank you for saving me… Where is this place?"
"The Hogwarts infirmary. Come on, I'll take you back to the Forbidden Forest."
Wade reached out his hand. The wolf cub hesitated for a moment before crawling out. Wade grabbed him by the scruff and lifted him into his arms.
The wolf yelped in surprise and clung tightly to Wade's arm, with his tail going stiff.
"What's your name?" Wade asked as he walked out.
"Morris," the young wolf replied. "Morris Horton."
"How old are you?" Wade asked.
"I'm already two!" Morris said proudly.
Wade was surprised—he had thought the little guy was maybe three or four months old at most.
He vaguely remembered that ordinary wolves are nearly mature at two years old, but this young one still had the appearance and speech of a child.
Perhaps it was the influence of human blood—longer childhoods, but in return, much longer lifespans than typical wild wolves.
"If I take you back to the forest, do you know how to get home?" Wade asked with concern. "Don't go getting caught by some monster again."
"Of course I do! I just got careless before!" Morris argued loudly.
As they spoke, Wade stepped out of the infirmary—and stopped.
Caryll was leaning against the corridor wall. He looked up with a slight smile and said, "Good morning, Wade."
"…Morning." Wade closed the door behind him and asked, "No classes this morning? What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you," Caryll said. "You were at the window just now, weren't you? I could feel it."
"Feel it?" Wade raised an eyebrow. "You mean you heard it?"
"Haha, I guess that's fair," Caryll chuckled, then looked at Morris. "Is this little guy your pet?"
Morris trembled slightly and buried his head into Wade's chest.
"No, I picked him up from the forest," Wade said honestly. "He was hurt, so I brought him to Madam Pomfrey for treatment."
"Oh, you must've met him yesterday evening in the Forbidden Forest, right?" Caryll said with a smile. "I thought I had a pretty decent relationship with Professor Hagrid, but it turns out even someone like Malfoy got an invite—and I didn't."
"Hagrid promised Malfoy a long time ago—back when you hadn't even started at school yet. And you know how Hagrid is… he always does whatever he wants," Wade said.
"Like illegally raising a dragon?" Caryll said enviously. "Must be nice… doing whatever you want, and even if you mess up, someone always has your back."
Wade glanced at him and asked, "Did something happen over the holidays? You don't look… great."
"Maybe I just partied too hard and haven't recovered… or maybe I didn't get the Christmas present I wanted," Caryll replied, looking at Wade with a meaningful expression.
Wade looked slightly awkward at that.
He hadn't given Caryll a Christmas present. But when he returned from Alliance's Castle, he found a gift from Caryll among the pile—an appointment planner and a small bag of cookies.
Very ordinary and perfectly normal—so normal that Wade had spent a long time inspecting them, feeling like an idiot.
Of course, he didn't eat the cookies. They were still sitting on his shelf as a decoration. There was plenty of space in his wardrobe, so it wasn't in the way.
"By the way…" Caryll suddenly asked, "Were the cookies I gave you tasty?"
"…They were pretty good," Wade replied vaguely.
"Haha, no need to be so polite. I know they're nothing like the ones my mom used to make." Caryll grinned. "Wade, do you remember? My mom was a great cook. You used to love her little cookies when we were kids."
"Of course," Wade nodded.
"But my favorite was her seafood chowder… she used to add cream, a bit of bay leaf and lemon—it was so good you'd want to swallow your tongue," Caryll said nostalgically.
"Unfortunately, vampires don't have very sensitive taste buds. Lately, her chowder doesn't taste as good to me."
Wade's heart stirred. He turned to look at Caryll, unsure if he'd said that intentionally or was just making casual conversation.
"Oh right, since you didn't accept my invitation over Christmas break, how about the next Hogsmeade weekend? Come over to my place. My parents bought a house in Hogsmeade—they really want to see you."
Caryll said warmly, "My mom will make a big meal. You can bring a few friends if you want."
Wade frowned. "Your parents?"
"Yeah!" Caryll replied with an unchanged smile.
Wade looked puzzled. "Caryll… after all this time, you really haven't realized…"
The boy across from him dropped his smile—his eyes flashed red, cold and full of hate. But that icy look lasted only a moment. Then he lowered his eyes and his lips curled into that same mask-like smile.
"Please, Wade, you owe me this," Caryll said humbly. "You turned down my last invitation. This time, no matter what, just say yes. Otherwise, my parents will definitely be upset with me… I'm begging you."
Wade looked into his eyes. After a long pause, he gave a slight nod.
"That's great!" Caryll immediately broke into a bright smile and said smugly, "Haha, I knew you had a soft heart! Now that you've agreed, no backing out! I'm off to breakfast!"
He waved and walked lightly toward the Great Hall. Wade turned in the opposite direction, heading down a side staircase.
Only then did Morris cautiously lift his head. He shifted in Wade's arms, rolling over and looking up at the wizard who had saved him.
The boy's gray eyes were lowered, filled with a quiet sorrow and compassion.
"Wade?" Morris whispered, placing his front paw on Wade's arm.
"Hmm?"
"That guy just now… he smelled like blood. He felt really dangerous… You'd better not get close to him, and don't accept his invitation either," Morris said seriously.
Wade only replied, "I know."
"Huh?"
"I know he's a vampire. It's just that…"
Wade stepped out of the castle, looked toward the pitch-black forest, and swallowed the rest of his sentence.
When Morris didn't hear what came after "It's just that…", he thought for a moment, then patted Wade's arm with his paw and said:
"I don't really get it, but my dad once told me… he said bad things won't stop happening just because you run from them. But as long as you keep walking forward, you'll eventually get out of the mud."
Wade smiled and said, "You're smart, Morris. Your father must be a wise man. But me… I'm clumsy when it comes to some things."
He looked back at the majestic castle, sighed, and said, "Looks like I'm going to trouble Professor Dumbledore again this time."
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