Echo: Sorcery Doctor

Echo: Sorcery Doctor

Ding-dong! Your friend [Hermione Granger] has sent you a friend request.

Bzzzt. Verification complete. This is a high-weight character. Inscribing Echo.

Spend 1,000 gems to inscribe the growable Echo: Sorcery Doctor?

Note: Growable Echoes can develop on their own according to the player's intimacy with the corresponding character (not limited to positive feelings).

Initial quality: White

Echo quality can only improve; it will not decline.

So enemies count too.

If I killed Lucius Malfoy, Draco's Echo would probably jump straight to the highest Fallen quality.

But damn it! Why haven't Harry and Ron sent requests?

Could this whole friendship thing be fake?

We've been in this compartment together for nearly two hours! They're worse than Hermione!

Those thoughts flashed through Basil's mind after he received the system's voice prompt.

Then, he replied to the system in his mind, "Yes."

The sound of the Time-Turner turning rang out.

Whoosh!

Gems: 11134.431 (-1000)

Ding! Obtained White-quality Echo: Sorcery Doctor

With a thought from Basil, the Grimoire opened automatically.

Hermione's portrait had appeared in the Echo section.

When he opened it, a passage of text was engraved beneath it:

All spells will open their doors to you. Learning difficulty reduced by 2%.

Dark Magic will not affect your mind, and neither will White Magic.

This is White quality? It's completely different from the description in the game.

Still, not bad. I can put learning Dark Magic on the agenda now.

But why doesn't it show, or even lock in, affection like a gal game?

Basil did not dwell on it.

For now, getting closer to Hermione was what mattered.

So mist began to gather in Basil's eyes, and his entire demeanor turned fragile.

"I'm an orphan."

"My father and mother died not long after I was born."

"My grandmother raised me alone."

"Not long ago, I was targeted by Fenrir Greyback, the most vicious werewolf."

"Thankfully, the magical tree planted at my home protected me and killed that werewolf instead."

"Neville probably heard that I'd killed someone."

"We didn't have time to explain before he ran off."

Hermione took Basil's hands, her face filled with sympathy.

She now felt that she was truly awful.

"I'm sorry. I didn't understand anything before I—"

The border around the Echo in his mind instantly turned blue.

The spell-learning difficulty reduction changed from 2% to 5%.

A new description appeared:

The more spells you learn, the stronger your spells become.

For every 10 spells, effectiveness increases by 1%.

Maximum: 10%

Basil began doing the Tarantella Dance in his heart.

But in reality, he gently and properly withdrew his hands like a gentleman.

He only wanted to enter her heart, not her body.

"It's fine. It was just a misunderstanding. I don't think Neville did it on purpose."

"He really seemed terrified."

He nudged Neville with his elbow and quietly cast the counterspell.

Tilting his head as though he knew nothing, he asked, "Neville, are you all right? You were completely frozen just now."

Although Immobulus locked the victim's entire body, their senses and thoughts remained normal while the spell was in effect.

So, faced with Basil's gentle and friendly question—

Neville, who was often belittled by his grandmother and had even less confidence than Harry, instinctively assumed that he had been too frightened to move.

He did not even wonder how Basil knew his name.

"I was scared stiff."

Neville's face was bright red, his eyes glistening with tears. "I dare say that when we get sorted, I'll definitely go to Hufflepuff! Someone like me, with no strengths at all, belongs there!"

"No, my friend." Basil placed a hand on Neville's shoulder. "You are the real hero!"

"You belong in brave Gryffindor!"

"You really did think I was a murderous maniac just now. Even then, you still found the courage to stand in front of Hermione."

Neville was deeply moved.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron felt the same way.

As three ding-dongs rang in his mind, the Sorcery Doctor Echo's border gradually shifted from blue toward gold.

Basil's smile became even more sincere.

He decided to look at Harry, Ron, and Neville's friend requests that night.

For now, maintaining their friendship and obtaining higher-quality Echoes was the top priority.

The compartment door closed again.

Neville and Hermione stayed behind.

Trevor the toad?

What was that?

Relying on his inexplicable leadership, Basil took center stage in the conversation.

"You may have noticed that my name is Basil Badger. The badger is Hufflepuff's symbolic animal."

"My family has been Hufflepuff for generations. In truth, Hufflepuff is not a place for people without strengths, as Neville said."

"Hufflepuff has produced many outstanding figures. Grogan Stump, one of the Ministry of Magic's most beloved ministers for many years; Newt Scamander, the world's leading authority on Fantastic Beasts; Erismanthy, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancy seer; and Hengist, who founded the wizarding village of Hogsmeade beside Hogwarts. They were all Hufflepuffs."

"In fact, Hufflepuff's poor reputation mainly comes from accepting every student thought to lack the qualities of the other three houses. Great Hufflepuff hoped that every child with magical talent could receive an education at Hogwarts."

Neville's eyes shone with longing. "Now I think being sorted into Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad!"

Hermione, however, looked torn. "Basil, are you planning to go to Hufflepuff too? Like your ancestors?"

She had already made up her mind. If Basil said yes—

She was willing to give up Gryffindor.

In her eyes, it was the finest house, home to the greatest wizard, Albus Dumbledore.

Basil shook his head.

"No, I want to go to Gryffindor. There has to be one Granger who stands out, and that will be me!"

In fact, he had initially planned to go to Slytherin.

After all, he did not want teachers targeting him.

Even the Snape in the movies, who was supposed to be so good, had been that biased. The one in this world would probably be even worse.

But after learning that only high-weight people could provide Echoes through "friendship"—

And that enemies also counted as "friends," with negative impressions increasing the Echo's advancement progress—

He crossed Slytherin off in his mind.

After all, there were too few Slytherins with significant roles.

Aside from the Death Eaters who had already graduated and found a lifelong, worry-free job with room and board in Azkaban—

Draco was probably the only one who counted as a high-weight character.

Hermione did not know that Basil, who seemed to shine in her eyes, had once considered Slytherin, the house that had produced the most Dark Wizards.

She was completely immersed in the joy of sharing Basil's choice.

She did not even notice that Basil had mentioned having the same surname as her.

She merely cheered, "That's wonderful! I'm planning to go to Gryffindor too!"

Ron coughed. "I probably will too. Everyone in the Weasley family has been a Gryffindor."

Harry blinked as well. "Probably me too. Hagrid said both my father and mother were Gryffindor students!"

Neville carefully added, "Then we're all going to Gryffindor? That's great!"

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