Harry's Helplessness

Noah and the others' days were exceptionally full and cheerful, but The Boy Who Lived, Harry, was not having a very good time.

Honestly, he felt incredibly unlucky. First, someone had tattled about the duel, and then he had run into a troll. Although nothing had gone wrong with the troll, he had witnessed just how terrifying an outstanding young wizard could be!

He had often heard the professors marvel at just how exceptional Noah Finneal, a fellow Muggle-born like himself, was—at Noah's current level, aside from being somewhat lacking in magical power, he could easily have gone straight into fifth year!

There were only seven years of study at Hogwarts. Noah was already close to a fifth-year level in his first year, and he had not even finished first year yet!

One could easily imagine just how vast the gap between him and Noah was.

That gap left him in no mood for many things, even after Quidditch had helped Gryffindor defeat Slytherin.

Speaking of Quidditch, Harry could not help thinking of how his broom had been controlled during that match.

Although he did not know who had saved him, it was enough for him to remember it deeply. No one wanted to experience something that dangerous a second time!

Later, Harry had accidentally heard that during the match, someone had noticed Professor Snape in the stands, his lips seemingly moving the entire time.

Almost instinctively, Harry decided that Professor Snape had definitely been behind the interference with his broom!

That made Harry recall the night the troll had appeared, when Professor Snape's leg had seemed to be injured as well.

As a Gryffindor, Harry and Ron had once ended up in the corridor on the right side of the eighth floor after the stairs went wrong.

And in order to avoid Filch, they had rushed straight into the room where the Three-headed dog was hidden!

So Harry naturally knew what Dumbledore meant by the forbidden area. He had even guessed that Professor Snape might have been injured because of the Three-headed dog!

As for why? He had Hagrid, that unreliable fellow, to thank for that. Intentionally or not, Hagrid had let Harry learn quite a few things he should not have known—perhaps deliberately.

In short, Harry had guessed quite a lot, so he planned to investigate in that direction.

Unfortunately, because of Ron, Hermione barely interacted with them anymore. Other than attending classes and resting, she spent nearly all her time with those outstanding Ravenclaw students!

That made Ron grumble even more things like, "She looks more like a Ravenclaw. Maybe she's better suited over there," which gave Harry a headache.

Without Hermione's help, Harry could only search for information bit by bit on his own.

Unfortunately, the trail went cold at Meller, which frustrated Harry immensely, while Hagrid, the source of the information, refused to say anything at all.

"What should I do?"

Harry helplessly propped his head up. The books laid out before him made him feel almost sick.

During this period, he had practically treated the Library as his home, yet he still had made no real progress.

He suddenly missed Hermione terribly. When Hermione had been around, he had never felt so lost, because Hermione seemed to know everything!

Now, after working so hard for so long without gaining anything at all, the disappointment and frustration made him feel especially miserable.

After hesitating for a long time, Harry suddenly made up his mind.

He stood up at once, grabbed the books on the table, and prepared to leave. Ron, who had been with him, was startled and immediately rose as well.

"Where are you going, Harry?" Ron followed behind Harry and asked quietly.

"To find Hermione. I hope I can persuade her to help me. Are you coming too?" Harry said without looking back.

He knew that if he asked Ron to come along, Ron would probably feel awkward. After all, the main reason Hermione barely paid any attention to them now was Ron.

Sure enough, after Harry said that, Ron looked somewhat awkward and hesitant.

After quite a while, he finally nodded hesitantly. "I-I'll go take a look with you."

"Fine, then let's go." Harry nodded, but still added, "Of course, if you really feel uncomfortable, you don't have to come."

"It's fine. Let's go."

Having received an affirmative answer, Harry did not hesitate any longer. It was lunchtime. Since Gryffindor had Flying Class in the morning, they had finished class rather early, and Hermione had vanished right after class ended.

But Harry guessed Hermione had probably gone to the dining hall to eat with those Ravenclaw students?

Sure enough, when Harry made his way to the dining hall and headed straight for where the Ravenclaws gathered, he saw Hermione sitting among Noah and the others.

Without hesitation, Harry walked directly toward Noah and his group, wondering whether he could seek their help as well.

"Hm? Harry? What are you doing here? Oh, and Ron too?" Noah, who had been eating, suddenly noticed someone approaching. He looked up and immediately found it strange. Why had these two come here?

"Hello, Noah. I... I came to find Hermione. I..." Harry suddenly found it hard to speak, since this was the Ravenclaw gathering place.

"Just say it. If it's about homework, don't bother." Hermione did not care about any of that and directly told Harry to state his purpose.

"Hey, don't forget, you're a Gryff—"

"Shut up, Ron. Hermione, it's like this. We have something we hope you can help us with."

Ron had barely begun to say something before Harry immediately stopped him. Honestly, if Ron angered Hermione again, they would not be able to do anything!

So he hurriedly held the guy back, lest that big mouth of his caused more trouble.

"Go on. What do you need help with? Noah and the others are here too. Maybe they can handle something I can't." Hermione's expression was not particularly pleasant, but she still had Harry explain.

"It's like this. We wanted to ask whether you know anything about Nicholas Meller?"

"Nick Meller? That famous alchemist?"

Kate took a sip of black tea and casually answered. Clearly, this was not a difficult question for any of them—or indeed, for any Ravenclaw.

"You know him?" Harry was immediately delighted. It seemed he had come to the right place!

"Of course we do. There probably aren't many people in all of Ravenclaw who don't," Luns said from the side with a completely unconcerned sneer.

"Then can you tell me about him? It's very important!" Harry did not care about Luns's attitude at all as he asked eagerly.

"Before asking us for information about him, shouldn't you tell us why you're looking for information about him?"

"No, it's a secret!"