"What... what is going on here?"
Seeing the massive head of the three-headed dog, the trio's legs nearly gave out.
Why would such a terrifying creature exist in a school?
Harry retraced their escape route in his mind, and then suddenly exclaimed,
"This is... the right-side corridor on the fourth floor?!"
Wayne nodded. "That's right. What happened to you guys? You look like you've been in a fight."
Ron gulped nervously and whispered, "Wayne... can we talk outside? That dog behind you..."
"Filch is still wandering around out there. Let's just talk here."
Wayne reached out and rubbed the dog's head, and the three-headed creature obediently lay down to make things easier for him.
"See? Fluffy is very well-behaved."
Hearing the compliment, the three-headed dog let out a contented snore.
Harry and the others finally felt their fear ease a little.
Thinking of Filch outside, Harry muttered,
"Don't even mention it. I arranged a midnight duel with Malfoy, and just when it got going, Filch showed up. What rotten luck."
Wayne was a bit surprised. "Malfoy actually showed up? No, wait—you actually dueled Malfoy?"
That was a big change.
Hermione hadn't gone with them, and Malfoy hadn't used tricks—he'd actually fought Harry head-on.
From the looks of it, it might've even turned into a fistfight.
Wayne hadn't even interfered much, but things were clearly spiraling in unexpected directions.
Now that the secret was out, Harry didn't bother hiding anything and told the whole story from start to finish.
When Neville found out that this whole incident started because of his Remembrall, he was deeply moved.
"Wayne, why are you here? And this dog..."
Wayne answered simply, "I just learned some new spells and wanted to test them out on Fluffy. Seems like they worked pretty well."
Fluffy shuddered.
More than just "pretty well" — any more and his dog heads were going to get blown off.
As Wayne had said, he had come here to test out his latest spell upgrades and boosts in power.
Last time, even though it looked like Wayne had the upper hand, he'd only inflicted minor external injuries on Fluffy.
This time, Wayne had used an Undetectable Extension Charm to temporarily enlarge the corridor so the three-headed dog could move freely.
The moment Fluffy saw him, he leapt at Wayne in fury—
And ended up getting beaten until he had to cover his heads and flee.
With enhanced magical strength, upgraded spell proficiency, and dynamic awareness to assist, Wayne's power had grown tremendously in just two weeks.
He hadn't even used any dark magic—just cast Aegis on himself, and Fluffy couldn't touch him.
Even ordinary spells like Avis could now cause Fluffy real damage.
After proving his point, Wayne didn't hold back: he showed he wasn't planning to enter the trapdoor. Combined with his Magical Beast Affinity talent, the three-headed dog turned into a giant lapdog in no time.
Wayne made it sound easy, but the trio was nearly scared stiff.
Testing spells—on something this terrifying?
They were all academic underachievers, but even without knowing much, they could tell from Fluffy's appearance alone that this was not a creature to mess with.
Ron forced a dry laugh. "You sure know how to enjoy your free time..."
"What's that?" Harry spotted the trapdoor beneath Fluffy and asked curiously.
"GRRR!"
Fluffy growled warily, and Wayne calmed him down.
"Alright, we're not going in. They're just curious."
Then he turned to Harry.
"I don't know what's inside either. But Fluffy's job is to guard it. If you push your luck, he'll see you as an intruder."
Harry shook his head like a rattle drum. "Forget I asked."
Still, his curiosity only deepened. Even Ron and Neville kept sneaking glances at the trapdoor.
Wayne shook his head silently.
That's Gryffindors for you—recklessly curious.
He pulled out a map and saw Filch was now on the sixth floor.
"Filch isn't nearby anymore. I'm heading out—what about you guys?"
Harry sighed in relief. "We're going too. Hopefully the Fat Lady's done her walk."
"Thanks again, Wayne."
"No big deal."
After thanking him once more, the trio tiptoed upstairs, cursing themselves for being dumb enough to forget the map on a night out.
Wayne also dismissed the Extension Charm and waved goodbye to Fluffy before floating away.
Saturday
The Great Hall was especially quiet.
Some students had gone to Hogsmeade early, while others were still sleeping in.
Wayne met up with Hermione and Cho around 9am to study in the library.
Of course, Cho and Hermione were doing homework—Wayne was reading.
Madam Pince glanced at the three of them but didn't bother interfering.
Cho wrote for a bit but soon got bored.
She wasn't a studious type like Hermione and didn't particularly enjoy learning.
The girl tugged on Wayne's sleeve and whispered:
"How's Ho-oh lately? Haven't seen her in days."
Wayne put down his book, Advanced Potion-Making, with a strange look on his face.
"She's probably doing fine. Honestly, I haven't seen her in a while either."
Cho rolled her eyes prettily. "She's a phoenix! Most people would treat her like treasure, and you're just being careless!"
"Hey, it's not like that. It's just... I made her angry the other day..."
"What did you do?"
As the two talked, even Hermione couldn't help leaning in.
Wayne looked a bit awkward.
"Well… Everyone was so curious about the phoenix, so I thought—why not charge for photos? One Galleon per picture."
"But she didn't agree. She got mad and flew into the Forbidden Forest. Hasn't come back in days."
Cho looked at him like he was a lunatic and only reacted after a long silence.
"Wayne, you're really blinded by money. You'll monetize anything."
Hermione was even angrier, pinching his arm.
"She's a phoenix, not some monkey in a zoo!"
"Ahem. I've got a household to support!" Wayne shrugged. "She eats loads of herbs at every meal—I'm barely keeping up."
"You can't be serious."
Cho thought for a moment. "Fine. Use my allowance to buy her food."
Hermione wasn't about to be left behind. "Mine too!"
They'd both made over a hundred Galleons selling maps recently—mini rich girls, really.
But Wayne knew the truth: even that wasn't enough.
Ho-oh still wasn't at full strength and needed tons of energy to grow. Just in the past week, he'd spent 200 Galleons on her food.
When they heard how expensive it was to raise a phoenix, both girls were left speechless...
After lunch in the Great Hall, Cho went to Quidditch practice with her broom.
Hermione and Wayne found an empty classroom.
Hermione reluctantly handed over her homework.
"Go ahead. Copy it."
The little witch looked very unhappy. She couldn't believe she was aiding and abetting cheating.
Wayne grinned and pulled out a stack of parchment and a sky-blue feather quill.
To Hermione's amazement, the quill started writing on its own, copying her homework.
"What is that quill? Why can it write by itself?"
Wayne leaned back comfortably and stretched before answering:
"My latest invention—Rewrite Quill."
"Perfect for copying homework—or even full essays. Teachers won't notice a thing."
"Really? I don't believe you."
Hermione was full of skepticism. But when she compared the output with her own homework, she realized the sentences were reworded.
They looked different but said the same thing.
Professor McGonagall had assigned a one-foot essay on Transfiguration.
The Rewrite Quill finished it in five minutes.
Hermione read the whole thing. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it was copied from her work.
"Want one?" Wayne dangled a duplicate quill in front of her.
"I don't need that!"
Hermione proudly lifted her chin. "I'll never copy someone else's homework!"
"What about these?"
Wayne pulled out a handful of different quills like a magician.
"This is the Dictation Quill—records exactly what you say."
"This is the Grammar Correction Quill—fixes all grammar mistakes."
"This is the Copybook Quill—copies books flawlessly."
"And this... is the Babble Quill—can turn a 100-word paragraph into a 1,000-word essay, pure filler."
Gulp.
Hermione swallowed hard.
These new quills were nothing like the usual homework copying ones—
They were actually useful.
She wanted every single one of them.
"You want them?" Wayne sounded like a big bad wolf tempting a little bunny.
Hermione nodded eagerly.
Wayne smiled faintly and said casually,
"… I practiced spells last night, and now my shoulders and arms are so sore… If only someone could…"
For the sake of the quills, Hermione clenched her little silver teeth, stood up obediently, and walked behind Wayne.
Her small hands landed on his shoulders, and she began to gently massage him.
Wayne looked very pleased.
Even though Hermione wasn't exactly skilled—she didn't have much strength in her hands—
But having a cute little girl massaging your shoulders? That alone was enough to feel great.
"Is that good enough?"
"That was like, five seconds. Keep going."
"My hands are getting tired…"
"Hang in there. Just a bit longer."
Thirty minutes later.
Wayne finally let the thoroughly exhausted Hermione go and handed her one of each kind of the enchanted quills.
"You jerk!"
With the goods in hand, Hermione growled and immediately bit his shoulder hard.
Only when she saw Wayne grimacing in pain did she let go of her little tiger teeth proudly.
"Let's see if you dare boss me around again!"
"Miss Granger, this is what you call biting the hand that feeds you," Wayne said, rubbing his shoulder.
She really bit hard—it actually stung a little!
"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione said primly.
Then, before he could say another word, she stuffed all the quills into her pocket, grabbed her homework, and bounced out of the classroom.
"I'm going to drop off my books—meet you at the castle gates!"
"One day, you'll fall into my hands again…" Wayne muttered, watching the little witch disappear down the hallway.
At 2 p.m. sharp, Wayne and Hermione arrived at Hagrid's hut—
Only to find they weren't the only visitors.
Harry and Ron were there too.
Their injuries from the previous night hadn't healed yet:
Ron's eyes were uneven—one swollen bigger than the other.
Harry had bruises around both eyes and a cut at the corner of his mouth.
Hermione, busy recently with the map project and piles of homework, had completely forgotten about Harry's duel with Malfoy.
But seeing the two of them looking so battered, she immediately remembered and flared up.
"You really went to duel Malfoy?!" she fumed.
"What if you got caught? How many points would Gryffindor lose? Professor McGonagall would've had a heart attack!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she got.
Ron mumbled defensively,
"We didn't get caught, did we? And Malfoy actually showed up—if we'd chickened out, he'd be mocking Gryffindor all year."
At least Ron was loyal—he didn't rat out Wayne or mention they'd run into him.
Hermione wanted to keep scolding them, but Hagrid hurried out to smooth things over.
"Alright now, no harm done if no one caught you. The Malfoy family's always been unpleasant. You know that better than anyone, Ron."
"Yeah, you're right," Ron nodded seriously.
Somehow, every time they went to Diagon Alley, they ran into the Malfoys—
And his dad always ended up brawling with Lucius Malfoy.
The two couldn't stand each other—just like Harry and Draco.
With Hagrid mediating, Hermione had no choice but to let it go.
She sipped her tea sulkily.
Then Hagrid brought out a snakeskin bag, larger and fuller than last time.
"Wayne, check if everything's there. If anything's missing, just let me know."
Wayne didn't stand on ceremony—he opened it up.
It was mostly pelts and animal parts, along with a few bottles of essence.
The most valuable item?
A full pint of Acromantula venom.
Hagrid had really gone all out.
"This is perfect. Thanks, Hagrid!"
The half-giant scratched his head bashfully.
"No need to thank me. Uh… actually…"
Wayne knew what he wanted.
He silently summoned Ho-oh.
As the phoenix appeared, the temperature in the room instantly rose.
Hagrid trembled with excitement, wanting to touch her—
But Ho-oh turned her nose up at him and flitted over to land on Hermione's shoulder instead.
She was still mad at Wayne and wasn't in the mood to snuggle him.
Harry and Ron stared in awe.
"So this is your phoenix?" Ron asked, eyes wide.
"Yup. Her name's Ho-oh."
"She's gorgeous…"
Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermione smugly glanced at Wayne and pulled two basil leaves from her pocket.
Leftovers from Herbology class—she'd saved them for this moment.
Ho-oh didn't like the cramped space, so after staying a bit and reconciling with Wayne (thanks to some fresh dittany),
She gently nuzzled his cheek and flew away.
She'd only stayed for about fifteen minutes, but that alone left Hagrid thrilled.
He happily brought out cakes and candy to share—
Plus his signature rock cakes.
Everyone silently ignored the rock cakes and focused on the candy and chocolate cake.
Even though the cake was too sweet, it was still leagues better than breaking your teeth on Hagrid's signature pastries.
During the chatter, Harry and Ron very tactfully avoided mentioning what they saw last night.
To them, Hermione was terrifying.
If she found out they not only dueled Malfoy but also entered a forbidden area of the castle,
They wouldn't live to see tomorrow.
Harry watched in disbelief as Wayne chomped happily on a rock cake.
He was stunned.
"Wayne… are your teeth made of iron? That thing is like eating a brick!"
While Hagrid stepped out to warm up the tea, Harry stared at him, shocked.
Wayne was munching away on a rock cake, totally content.
"I used a Softening Charm," Wayne said matter-of-factly.
"Want to try? It's actually pretty good."
As he spoke, he tapped the cake lightly, and its rock-hard crust instantly softened into a chewy texture.
Harry: "..."
I'm really just a useless waste.
He couldn't resist anymore and picked one up to try.
"…Okay, that's actually good."
"Oh right, I've invented some new stuff lately. Want to buy some?"
"What kind of stuff?" Harry was immediately interested.
Under Hermione's near-murderous glare, Wayne pulled out the Rewrite Quill...
~~----------------------
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