Chapter 207: Can Young Wizards Go to the Three Broomsticks?
Seeing Dylan approach, Ron let out a helpless sigh. "Dylan, you wouldn't believe how frustrating Harry's aunt and uncle are!"
Dylan blinked. "I know."
Ron: "..."
Harry looked at Dylan and Ron, pressing his lips together. "You go ahead." Harry leaned back against the wall, the coolness of the stone seeping through his clothes onto his skin.
Ron opened his mouth, then closed it, hesitant to speak. Hermione, meanwhile, shook her head. "Alright, we'll be back as soon as possible. The school also requires us to return today. If you have nothing to do today, you can go to the library and do your homework."
Harry: "..."
Dylan also shot Hermione a glance. Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless! Had Hermione cultivated some 'path of ruthlessness'? Comforting someone like that... They were all going out to play today. It was bad enough that Harry couldn't go, being forced to stay at school. But Hermione actually told him to do homework in the library while everyone else was out having fun. Even Dylan wasn't planning on studying today!
"I, I'll think about what to do today," Harry coughed.
Hermione nodded. In the end, she left with Ron, who kept looking back, and Dylan, passing through Filch's meticulous inspection and out the gate leading outside the castle.
The wind outside the castle swept a few withered leaves across the stone path. Ron pulled his neck into his scarf. "It's really cold today." He tucked his chin further into his scarf. This scarf was one Dylan had given him.A brand-new scarf. Ron quite liked it. Rubbing his hands, Ron mumbled, "If only Professor McGonagall had agreed to let Harry come with us. Sometimes she's just too rigid, when she could clearly make an exception for us."
Dylan glanced at him. Before he could speak, Neville chimed in, "Professor McGonagall is just doing her duty. Students without a guardian's signed permission are not allowed to go to Hogsmeade Village; it's a Hogwarts rule."
Dylan also nodded. "You can't expect Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, to lead the way in breaking school rules, can you? Otherwise, wouldn't other professors follow suit?"
Hermione thoughtfully said, "Exactly. If every professor could bend the rules for their own students, then Professor Snape..."
Ron also realized. "Alright alright! Then let's stick to the rules." After saying that, he immediately continued grumbling, "I really can't imagine, with rules in place, Professor Snape already targets us so much. If there were no rules..." "I feel like he could add a whole semester's worth of points to Slytherin in one class!" "And even deduct all our Gryffindor points! Even make them negative!"
Seeing Ron's indignant and impassioned expression, Dylan's lips twitched. "Professor Snape isn't that inhumane." Perhaps.If you didn't always provoke him.
"He, humane?" Ron pulled a grotesque face. "Oh! I think I'll never forget the time he pointed at my nose in class and yelled for a full twenty minutes!"
Dylan also recalled an earlier Potions class, when that dunderhead Ron mistook Goldthread for Goldenrod and threw it into his potion, causing an explosion. See? If you don't provoke him, how would he have a chance to scold you?
Dylan clicked his tongue and didn't respond to Ron further. However, Hermione, no longer needing to comfort Harry with Ron, noticed Ron's continued grumbling. She immediately started bickering with him. "You almost scared everyone around us to death! Because you got the herb wrong, so many people's potions failed. I think Professor Snape shouldn't be the only one to scold you; Professor Sprout should also give you a good dressing down!"
"What?! It was clearly the herb's fault!" Ron retorted. The two started bickering again. Neville awkwardly watched them, then turned to glance at Dylan. He found that Dylan was either already used to it or simply didn't care. In any case, he showed no attempt to mediate between the arguing pair. Neville also stood by silently, and with Dylan, began to look around.
Meanwhile, after all the students who were leaving the school for Hogsmeade Village had arrived, Filch also stepped out, wearing a pointed hat and with a long, sallow face. "Oh, this guy also looks like an old bat, and a bad-tempered one at that!"
Ron and Hermione had bickered for a short while, then realizing they couldn't win, stopped bothering with each other. Seeing Filch walk out, Ron muttered under his breath.
"Clang!" Filch slammed the main gate shut. His hooked nose almost poked the students in the front row. "Listen up, you brats!" His cloudy eyes swept over the whispering young wizards in the queue.
Although Filch was a Squib and couldn't do magic, he had many magical items given to him by Dumbledore.
These allowed him to not be at a disadvantage when facing these young wizards simply because he couldn't do magic. On the contrary, most of the young wizards present even had some inexplicable fear of Filch.
Perhaps because he was terrifyingly ugly. Or perhaps because Filch was like a ghost every night. Imagine, if you went out at night, you'd be chased by a ghost who could catch you and put you in detention. Who wouldn't be scared? And he was so ugly! Looming in the darkness, how terrifying was that?
"No running around, no touching things you shouldn't touch!" Filch's thick lips twisted into a thin, harsh line. "If I find anyone trying to sneak out of the group, going to places you shouldn't " Filch's eyes darted around. " be careful, you'll be put in detention!" "Alright, keep up, don't dawdle!"
Hogsmeade Village wasn't too far from Hogwarts. Normally, it was a quick journey by carriage. But walking, the distance wasn't too great either. It was perfectly walkable. It was worth noting that there were a few designated times for going to Hogsmeade Village, mostly in the morning. Dylan and his friends were among the first wave of students heading to Hogsmeade Village. And most of these students were third-years.
After all, older students had already been to Hogsmeade Village and knew there wasn't anything particularly exciting there. Even if they wanted to go, they wouldn't get up so early.
They hadn't walked for long before they arrived at Hogsmeade Village. A slight mist still lingered at the tops of the chimneys. Filch, with his croaky voice, announced, "Listen up, you little brats! Every street corner here has your prefects watching your backs with Sneakoscopes!"
"If anyone is found trying to sneak out of here..." He deliberately paused, his eyes narrowed. "You'll wish you'd never grown legs! I'll give your backside a good thrashing before handing you over to your Head of House!"
Filch delivered a string of threats, then finally dismissed everyone to go about their business freely. He turned to walk back, not forgetting to leave a mumbled threat. "Even though I'm gone, I'll be watching I'll be watching..."
After Filch left, Dylan watched his retreating back and shook his head. There would indeed be prefects patrolling nearby to prevent young wizards from accidentally going to the wrong places or trying to sneak out of Hogsmeade Village to go to strange locations. But that had nothing to do with him.
If he wanted to leave, he wouldn't even need to cast any spells. Just wearing his Shadow Ring, no young wizard would be able to detect his presence. Of course, this excluded people with strong spiritual talents like Luna. Even if he could become invisible with the Shadow Ring, it was only by using the ring's magic to conceal him.
Magic itself was also a part of the spiritual plane. So even if he was invisible, Luna, if she observed carefully, would naturally be able to spot something different. Similarly, invisibility couldn't fool Dumbledore. This was because Dumbledore clearly had his own talents on the spiritual plane.
"Dylan, I want to go to Zonko's Joke Shop first. Are you going straight to Honeydukes Sweetshop?" Neville asked.
Dylan nodded. "You go ahead. Didn't the Weasley twins say they'd show me something amazing at Honeydukes Sweetshop? I'll go wait for them there." Neville gently nodded, then parted ways with Dylan, walking towards Seamus on the other side.
Dylan wasn't walking with Ron and Hermione to begin with. And after Ron and Hermione argued, they had also gone their separate ways. Dylan was simply left with some peace and quiet. Watching Filch leave, many students' excitement was no longer suppressed.
Some clutched their saved Sickles or Galleons, heading straight for Honeydukes Sweetshop. Others dragged their companions, running towards Zonko's Joke Shop.
Dylan slowly ambled along with the crowd. Suddenly, he noticed a few young wizards peeking through the wooden door of the Three Broomsticks, then actually slipping inside.
Oh, really? The Three Broomsticks was a pub. These young wizards were clearly students, yet they dared to ignore the patrolling prefects on the street and Professor McGonagall's previous warnings, and run straight into the pub?
Dylan glanced around. He noticed there weren't many patrolling prefects on the street, seemingly only one. It appeared the others hadn't arrived yet. Dylan narrowed his eyes, recalling Professor McGonagall tapping on the blackboard last week.
"Underage wizards are forbidden from drinking any alcoholic beverages! Unless accompanied by a guardian " Dylan's gaze swept over the steaming copper kettles in the pub's window. "Hmm, this is quite irregular."
Dylan's heel dug a small indent in the ground. His toes, originally pointed towards the sweetshop, subtly turned. He bypassed the Hufflepuff students arguing about the recipe for Screaming Cauldrons candy, and walked straight towards the fragrant wooden door of the pub.
"I heard Professor McGonagall quite likes the drinks here. They say 'a teacher for a day, a father for life,' so if I understand my elder's preferences, there's nothing wrong with that, right?" Dylan also followed the other students, slipping into the Three Broomsticks.
Upon entering, a warm current of air, mixed with a peaty scent and a hint of alcohol, wafted towards him. The pub wasn't very crowded at the moment. And many of the patrons were underage wizard students. Madam Rosmerta greeted them with a cheerful smile.
Dylan had just taken a step forward when the only patrolling prefect from the street also walked in. Madam Rosmerta's chestnut curls were loosely tied back with a velvet ribbon. At this point, she had already served a few students several mugs of Butterbeer.
This left her apron speckled with foam. After serving them, she saw the newcomer. Madam Rosmerta smiled. "Good morning, Mister Prefect. Would you like something warm? Also, today's Butterbeer has candied fruit peel in it. I think it tastes quite good."
Dylan turned to look at this prefect. From his robes, he seemed to be a Hufflepuff prefect. Dylan didn't recognize him. He walked up to Madam Rosmerta and ordered two Butterbeers at once. Dylan blinked and also walked to the bar.
After Madam Rosmerta handed the two Butterbeers to the prefect, she turned back to Dylan, asking warmly, "Sir, what can I get for you?" Dylan looked around. To confirm the legitimacy, he cleared his throat and asked, "Um... I remember the school rules say..."
Madam Rosmerta blinked. "Third-year?"
Dylan nodded.
Madam Rosmerta chuckled a few times. "Worried that underage wizards can't drink the alcoholic version, right?" In a blink of an eye, she poured an amber liquid from the copper kettle, topped with a frothy head.
"Don't worry, this is the non-alcoholic version specially prepared for young wizards. During one of the first-year welcoming feasts, Professor Dumbledore personally approved this recipe of mine." Madam Rosmerta winked at him. "How about it, would you like a glass?"
The prefect, holding two mugs of Butterbeer, also smiled. "Don't worry, it's really like that."
Dylan was actually stunned. No alcohol? Suddenly, he felt a bit underwhelmed. Was a drink without alcohol still considered alcohol? Wouldn't that just be sweet syrup? Dylan pursed his lips slightly.
"If you want to try it, add two spoons of syrup. Your Professor Flitwick even praised it, saying it tastes a lot like Honeydukes' Toffees."
Dylan nodded. "Alright, please give me one, just one spoon of syrup. I don't like overly sweet syrupy drinks."
Madam Rosmerta fluttered her eyelashes. Syrupy drinks? She then chuckled heartily. This was truly an interesting young wizard.
Madam Rosmerta quickly handed Dylan a mug of Butterbeer. Dylan sniffed it. Although the room smelled of alcohol, this mug of Butterbeer indeed had no alcoholic scent. Dylan lowered his head and took a sip. The warm syrup slid down his throat into his stomach. It was surprisingly good.
"How does it taste?" Madam Rosmerta smiled. "If you like it, you can bring your friends next time I've just learned a new recipe for making marshmallow foam with a special powdered mix."
"Very good," Dylan nodded slightly. After drinking one mug, he ordered another large one. He stayed in the Three Broomsticks for over twenty minutes before finally leaving. After paying, of course.
....
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