Everyone in the Great Hall had their mouths twitching with barely suppressed amusement.
It felt like being promised an entertaining spectacle only to have the curtain drawn at the crucial moment.
The Howler continued its tirade, and Mrs. Weasley's furious roaring obviously couldn't be satisfied with just a sentence or two. Ron should be grateful he was at school now, not at home facing her wrath directly.
After a full four or five minutes, the Howler finally caught fire and turned into a pile of smouldering ashes.
Seeing this, Dudley drew his wand and lifted the silencing spell.
Ron and Harry both wore dazed expressions at this moment. They felt their heads buzzing, their ears still ringing with Mrs. Weasley's voice.
In the Great Hall, everyone had already returned to their breakfast.
Having missed the anticipated show, they had little interest in continuing to mock Ron.
Malfoy looked extremely dissatisfied. He had wanted to hear exactly how Ron's mother would tear into him but heard absolutely nothing, which made him furious with disappointment.
"Thank you," Ron finally said to Dudley after a long moment of recovery.
Without Dudley's protective spell, he would definitely want to disappear from this world immediately, even regretting being born.
Harry also looked thoroughly guilty about the whole situation.
"Don't mention it. It's not entirely your fault. The most important thing is still the mysteriously sealed platform. We'll definitely investigate this matter thoroughly," Dudley assured them.
Professor Dumbledore had already sent people to investigate, though they didn't know when there would be concrete results.
Without time to dwell on the matter further, Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall from outside and began distributing class schedules to everyone.
"Excellent spellwork, Dudley," Professor McGonagall praised him with obvious approval.
She had witnessed Dudley cast that protective charm just moments before.
"Thank you, Professor," Dudley replied with a modest smile.
"You two, I hope you can properly reflect on your mistakes. Understood?" After praising Dudley, Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron with a stern expression.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall," Harry and Ron said in perfect unison.
The first class was Herbology. Everyone didn't have much time to process what had happened earlier, so they hurriedly finished breakfast and went to class together.
Professor Sprout had brought fascinating Mandrakes, and their lesson involved repotting the magical plants.
This wasn't an easy task, because the baby-like Mandrake roots would twist their bodies violently, kick wildly, and even attempt to bite people. They also had to wear protective earmuffs to prevent being harmed by the dangerous sounds these herbs produced.
However, this proved remarkably easy for Dudley. These slightly intelligent creatures were always sensitive to natural authority, and in Dudley's hands, the Mandrakes couldn't cause any trouble whatsoever.
This scene appeared to others as Dudley being extraordinarily lucky. The Mandrake he was assigned was completely well-behaved, not crying or making a fuss, like a perfect little angel.
After Herbology came Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.
This time they needed to transform beetles into buttons. The difficulty wasn't overwhelming, but it wasn't as simple as it initially appeared either.
Dudley and Hermione still completed the spell excellently, earning valuable points for Gryffindor, while others had their various struggles.
What left Professor McGonagall utterly speechless was that two explosive talents appeared in this class.
One was naturally Seamus, and the other was Ron.
Ron's wand had broken in the previous flying car accident. He had attempted to repair it with Spellotape, but unfortunately it didn't work properly, causing him to make mistakes when casting spells and accidentally blow up his beetle.
Finally making it to noon, Ron and Harry already felt completely defeated.
They had been humiliated by a Howler in the morning, then tormented by aggressive Mandrakes, and then criticised by Professor McGonagall. Both felt this semester was going disastrously wrong.
"Give me your wand," Dudley said to Ron.
Ron lay slumped on the table, dazedly taking out his damaged wand and handing it to Dudley.
Dudley drew his own wand.
"It's no use. Wands are extremely difficult to repair properly. I asked Professor McGonagall, and she told me to get a new one..." Before Ron could finish his dejected explanation.
"Reparo," Dudley spoke the spell clearly, and Ron's broken wand immediately connected, showing no visible trace of the previous break.
"It's actually fixed?" Harry and Hermione witnessed this scene and were too surprised to speak coherently.
Ron quickly picked up his wand to examine it closely. The originally broken section had been perfectly joined. All that useless Spellotape was completely unnecessary compared to Dudley's single spell.
"Oh! Dudley, you're my absolute savior!" Ron said with overwhelming gratitude.
"I can't restore it to its original pristine state, but it should function normally now. I still suggest you get a new one when you have the opportunity," Dudley cautioned.
His spell was remarkably powerful, but it hadn't reached the level where it could completely restore a wand to perfect condition.
However, compared to ordinary students, the power of spells Dudley cast was obviously much stronger than theirs. This might be related to Dudley's exceptionally powerful spiritual strength.
"How did you accomplish that?" Hermione asked with obvious shock.
She had been working incredibly hard to catch up with Dudley, but she felt the gap between them wasn't shrinking. Instead, it seemed to be growing larger.
"Maybe this is... natural talent?" Dudley smiled mysteriously.
He couldn't explain the true source of his abilities to Hermione, so he could only use this vague term.
Hermione looked at Dudley with complete bewilderment.
"Alright, you should rest after eating. We still have Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon. I'm going to walk around the castle," Dudley announced, standing up and leaving the Great Hall.
"Time to patrol my territory," Dudley thought to himself with satisfaction.
Away from Hogwarts, his Beyonder characteristic digestion had slowed down considerably. He still hadn't advanced to Sequence 6 Judge, which made Dudley somewhat anxious about his progress.
Fortunately, after returning to Hogwarts, he clearly felt the speed of Beyonder characteristic digestion had increased significantly. Completing the advancement within this academic year shouldn't be problematic.
"It's just that Briber is somewhat troublesome," he mused.
"It seems I need to find some people and properly bribe them for advancement..."
Dudley pondered while beginning his patrol.
"Or I could bribe Dumbledore in exchange for greater authority and privileges."
"Yes, this is indeed an excellent idea."
"I could also bribe Professor McGonagall for some special privileges."
Dudley calculated these possibilities secretly.
"It's just that the next Sequence 6 Corrupted Baron represents the real challenge."
"Hey, Dudley, what are you doing?" Suddenly, a dreamy voice came from behind him.
Dudley turned around and found Luna had somehow followed him without making a sound.
"Good afternoon, Luna. Congratulations on getting sorted into Ravenclaw House," Dudley smiled and greeted her warmly.
"When I have nothing to do, I like to walk around the castle and explore. Want to come along?" Dudley offered.
Luna didn't hesitate and nodded directly. "Sure, that sounds wonderful."
Dudley was genuinely startled. Usually at times like this he would be politely refused. He hadn't expected Luna to agree so readily.
"Let's go then," Dudley said, not dwelling on his surprise, and began 'patrolling' Hogwarts with Luna as his unexpected companion.