"Dumbledore?" Hearing that name, Morris immediately became excited and exclaimed, "I know Dumbledore! He's the strongest wizard in the world!"
"Yes, he is." Wade smiled. "Have you ever seen Dumbledore before?"
"No, never," Morris shook his head and said. "I just heard my dad talk about him. Sometimes he reads us the newspaper."
As he spoke, he shifted in Wade's arms and looked back at the castle that was gradually getting farther away.
Hogwarts looked beautiful in the morning light. It was shrouded in a thin mist, and the rising sun cast a soft golden glow on the castle's towers and stone walls.
Students hurrying to class and breakfast moved busily through the castle. Young figures darted past windows, and the faint sounds of chatter and laughter filled the air. It was lively and full of energy, breathing life into the ancient castle.
There was open envy in Morris's eyes.
"Wade, can't I really go to school here?" he asked softly.
Wade was silent for a moment before replying, "Hogwarts students receive their acceptance letters when they turn eleven."
"Eleven? I'll already be an adult by then."
Morris sighed and rested his head on Wade's arm, gazing intently at the castle without blinking.
Wade had already reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where the air felt noticeably cooler.
He was about to find Hagrid to ask him to take the two-year-old cub back, when suddenly, from within the dark forest, a figure emerged silently from behind a tree and looked at him with guarded eyes.
Unlike Lupin, who could still integrate into normal human society, this man's eyes, nose, and ears resembled those of a real wolf. His face was pale, eye sockets were sunken, hair was wild like a savage, clothes were tattered, and he wasn't even wearing shoes.
He carried a bow and arrows on his back, curved blades and daggers were strapped to his waist and legs, and he held a pitch-black shotgun in his hand. The muzzle pointed down at the ground — he had no intention of raising it.
Wade stopped in his tracks. Seeing the man's name — [Lucas Horton]— he gently jostled the wolf cub and asked, "Morris, is that your father?"
"Huh?"
Morris had been trying to take in every last detail of Hogwarts. When he heard the question, he froze, turned, and saw the man in the forest — then immediately tumbled out of Wade's arms in fright.
"D-Dad…"
Morris timidly lowered his head, tucked his tail between his legs, and whispered, "I'm sorry… I… I shouldn't have run off…"
The man spoke in a hoarse voice: "Morris, come back."
"…Okay." Morris looked longingly back at Wade and the castle behind him, then reluctantly turned and headed into the Forbidden Forest.
His wounds had mostly healed, but he still seemed weak. The man waited until he slowly reached his side, then bent down, scooped up the cub, and checked him over.
"I'm fine," Morris said, not wanting to be turned over and examined. He pushed his father's hand away with a small paw and added sheepishly, "Wade had the school doctor treat me."
"Wade, is it?" The man looked at Wade and said, "Thank you for saving my son."
Wade looked into his amber eyes and nodded. "You're welcome. You should take him home now—I need to get to class."
"Wait!" the man suddenly called out, then said, "Be careful, kid. Lately, a lot of vampires have entered the forest. They've asked me to guide them and have even made contact with the Acromantula tribe."
Wade was taken aback. His eyebrows twitched slightly at the mention of Acromantulas. After a brief pause, he asked, "Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"
"Of course." The man gave a crooked smile and said with a tone laced with sarcasm. "He allows someone with filthy blood like me to live in the Forbidden Forest. In return, we naturally act as his spies."
Wade tilted his head slightly at the tone, frowning. "Sorry, but it sounds like Professor Dumbledore helped your family. Yet… you seem dissatisfied with him?"
"Dissatisfied?" The man let out a cold laugh. "No, I have great respect for him. But Dumbledore? He's the one who's disappointed everyone again and again!"
Wade's expression grew colder, reminded of the old saying "Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile.". He asked, "What do you mean?"
The man narrowed his eyes and said, "You're still a student, kid. In your heart, you probably think your headmaster is great, trustworthy—someone you can always rely on. But after you graduate..."
His voice suddenly cut off. His nostrils flared slightly, and his teeth clenched audibly.
It was a long moment before he spoke again:
"After you graduate, you'll see the Ministry of Magic—corrupt, inefficient, sluggish. Everything's a mess. Prejudice and discrimination everywhere. Criminals roam free while honest people get thrown into Azkaban just for buying a secondhand wand..."
"You know there's something deeply wrong with the system. And you know there's one man—just one—who could fix it, or at least improve part of it. So you beg him. Again and again and again. You beg him to step forward. But he always refuses!"
"If Dumbledore just nodded, without lifting a finger, they'd hand him the position of Minister for Magic!"
"But what does Dumbledore do? He'd rather sit back and watch some greedy fool take that seat than leave Hogwarts!"
"Tell me, kid—under those circumstances... how are you supposed to be grateful to him?"
The werewolf asked bitterly, but then, looking at Wade's still somewhat youthful face, he gave a pained smile and wiped his face.
"Sorry. You're still just a child. I shouldn't be saying all this to you… Go back to your studies. Stay out of the Forbidden Forest for now."
Then, holding the utterly silent Morris, he strode back into the forest.
Wade stood there a while longer before turning back toward the castle.
Hagrid, who had faintly heard the werewolf's growling, was standing outside his hut peering around with an axe in his hand.
When he saw Wade, Hagrid put down the axe and asked curiously, "Wade, who were you just talking to?"
"The werewolf who lives in the Forbidden Forest," Wade said simply. "I found his injured child."
"Oh… that guy."
Hagrid looked relieved, though a conflicted expression crossed his bearded face.
"What is it?" Wade asked curiously.
"Don't go out of your way to get close to them, Wade," Hagrid said, tugging at his messy beard. "Of course, Remus is a good man—I really like him. And Lucas isn't bad either."
"And?" Wade smiled.
"Well… it's just that you're far too trusting of werewolves."
Hagrid bent down and looked at him worriedly. "Most werewolves are extremely violent—especially toward wizards. They don't exactly have a good opinion of us. During the last war, nearly all of them sided with You-Know-Who."
"Got it," Wade said earnestly, taking the advice to heart. "I won't go near unfamiliar werewolves again."
"That's good." Hagrid looked relieved and gave a cheerful smile. "You can write a paper later—about how to properly identify werewolves…"
"Stop right there!" Wade raised a hand to interrupt, then asked in confusion, "Hagrid, since when did you start liking homework assignments so much?"
Even when taking students on a "field trip," he insisted they submit a paper as a "souvenir."
"Oh, that was Professor Kettleburn's idea," Hagrid explained.
"I'm worried you lot won't pass your OWLs. I've heard they're deadly hard. Professor Kettleburn said that if you write enough essays, the knowledge will eventually get stuck in your head..."
Wade was speechless.
Two people who usually barely wrote a sentence somehow teamed up to push the ultimate homework agenda. It was… honestly shocking.
He asked, "But Hagrid, isn't that something for fifth-years to worry about? We're only in third year and you're already piling it on?"
Wade enjoyed learning new kinds of magic he hadn't encountered before, but repeating essays on things he already mastered? That tried his patience.
Hagrid scratched his head and said sincerely, "Starting early doesn't hurt anyone."
"It does," Wade replied solemnly.
"If everyone knows your class gives tons of homework, there might not be many new students signing up next year! Too many essays—even Hermione wouldn't be able to take it!"
Hagrid froze. "Really?"
"Of course," Wade nodded.
The half-giant fell into deep thought.
Wade quietly slipped past him and headed toward the castle.
And speaking of Hermione—there she was.
Just as Wade stepped into the entrance hall, he saw someone bump into Hermione, sending the books in her arms scattering across the floor.
"Hey!" Hermione shouted angrily.
Pansy, the one who had bumped into Hermione, pretended as if she neither saw nor heard anything. She quickly walked into the Great Hall with a few other Slytherin girls, and only then let out a gloating laugh.
Hermione's expression turned fierce in an instant, clearly furious, but she was too busy to retaliate. She immediately crouched down to start picking up her books.
Wade hurried over and waved his wand — all the books on the ground floated up and landed neatly in Hermione's arms.
The only book left was a thick volume of A History of Magic, which someone had already picked up.
"Here you go, Granger," said Caryll, handing the book to her.
"Thanks," Hermione replied, then glanced at Wade and reminded him, "Class is about to start, Wade, don't be late!"
"Mm, I won't lose track of time." Wade then asked, "Why didn't you put all the books in your bag?"
Everyone in SSC (their study group) had their bags enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm — they could fit a ton of books and still weigh next to nothing.
"Oh, I was going to return these to the library on the way." Hermione said hurriedly, "I have to go first!"
The girl rushed off, and when Wade turned his head, he noticed that Caryll had somehow disappeared without him realizing.
"Looking for that sharp-toothed fellow from earlier? He left with his girlfriend," said a voice suddenly from a portrait hanging on the wall.
"Griffiths?" Wade looked in surprise at the red-haired man in the painting, then asked, "Girlfriend?"
"That's what I figure," Griffiths said with a grin. "I haven't heard anything official, but the two of them are always together. Must be something more than friendship."
Wade wasn't particularly interested in Caryll's love life, but he still warned, "Don't go spreading rumors. If a student complains, you'll be moved to the Astronomy Tower again!"
Griffiths immediately straightened up, mimed zipping his lips shut, and nodded solemnly.
Once Wade entered the Great Hall, Griffiths muttered to the painting next to him, "Kids these days — no respect for their elders."
The person in the neighboring portrait kept their eyes closed, snoring faintly, ignoring him.
Griffiths kept chatting anyway, clearly enjoying himself: "But I suppose that's better, really. If they were always so respectful and proper, it'd get dull... Oh, no need to keep pretending. I'm not here to bother you today."
The old man in the pointy hat seemed fully committed to the act of "sleeping," not moving a muscle. Only the faint sound of snoring proved he was still a living portrait of the wizarding world.
Griffiths's expression turned a little wistful. He retreated to his original position and sat down in silence, and looked like he too had become just a static painting.
…
Meanwhile, the werewolf Lucas tossed his son up onto his shoulder, letting the boy lie there on his stomach. As he strode toward home, he scolded Morris for being disobedient and getting himself into danger.
For some reason, from last night to this morning, the Forbidden Forest seemed strangely friendly. Lucas had slept outside for the night — not in a cave, not even in a proper nest — and yet hadn't encountered any danger.
Suddenly, Lucas stopped in his tracks. At the same moment, Morris lifted his head and his wet nose twitched rapidly, trying to catch a faint trace of something off in the air.
"Smells like barbecue, Dad," Morris said pitifully. "I'm hungry."
"Hold on a second." Lucas pushed aside the underbrush and carefully walked toward the source of the smell.
A man was lying on the ground. He looked bloodied and battered all over, with several burn marks on his body, and most of his hair was singed off.
Lucas studied him for a moment and then froze in surprise.
—Wasn't this the guy who had asked me about the location of the Acromantula nest a few days ago? If I remember correctly, the man claimed to be a vampire.
Lucas glanced back in the direction of Hogwarts but saw nothing — just an endless expanse of trees and leaves.
He didn't hesitate for long. He dragged the man up from the ground and, after checking to see that he was still breathing, pulled a small crystal vial from the pouch on his belt. Carefully, he let a few drops of the potion fall into the man's mouth.
A good potion always worked fast.
Before long, the man stirred and managed to open his eyes as he coughed a few times.
"Hey, Thomas," the werewolf said. "Negotiations with the spiders didn't go well?"
"Lucas… it's good to see you."
Thomas recognized the guide he had hired previously. Holding his head, he slowly stood up and said in a puzzled and defeated tone:
"The negotiations were a complete failure… Or rather, they weren't as meaningful as we'd hoped — there are far fewer members of the Acromantula tribe than we expected."
"Fewer?" Lucas was confused. Not long ago, when he passed by the nest, he remembered seeing more spiders than he could count.
He was about to ask more when the vampire suddenly raised a hand and gestured for silence.
Both men fell quiet, and Morris didn't move a muscle.
Then they heard it — a jumble of footsteps, messy and fast, gradually approaching… until finally, they stopped.
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
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