Persuading Hermione

"This year's House Cup champions are... Ravenclaw!"

"What the f*ck?"

Watching Dumbledore stand at the head table, passionately announcing this year's House Cup winners, Noah was completely dumbfounded.

What the hell was going on?

Looking around at the students' utterly unsurprised expressions, then at Kate and the others grinning at him, Noah felt terrible.

Professor Dumbledore, shouldn't you have carried on with your "fine tradition," ignored all the factors unfavorable to Harry, and then let Harry help Gryffindor win the House Cup?

Yes, the end of the school year had arrived before anyone realized it.

Noah and the others had prepared so thoroughly that they had no idea how thoroughly they had prepared. They felt no anxiety whatsoever over the final exams; on the contrary, every one of them was unusually eager.

Of course, only they were relaxed. The other students had all fallen into varying degrees of nervousness.

Especially those whose grades had always been average and who were rather mischievous. They were now gripped by fear.

Ron, for instance. The kid was terrified.

If he failed his exams, he might have to repeat first year alongside his sister. That was probably not something his family could bear.

Harry was doing much better. The kid was only a little worried, but he had kept up well enough with his studies, so he was not that nervous.

Still, to deal with these exams, he had spent plenty of time in the Library, diligently reviewing the things he had not learned very well.

"Ron, what do you think they're doing now?" After reading for so long, Harry naturally grew tired and could not help chatting with Ron.

"They? Oh, you mean Noah and the others? Probably learning new spells or something else. Who knows? A bunch of monsters." Ron responded quickly, but he clearly had little interest when Noah was mentioned.

There was nothing he could do about it. Dumbledore had said that Noah's organization consisted of a group of outstanding students.

Ron did not think he could join an organization like that. Even Harry, The Boy Who Lived, could not get in, so what qualifications did he have?

As for Hermione?

Forget it. Before, he probably would have called her a bookworm, but he did not dare anymore.

Whenever he thought about everything they had faced not long ago, and how he had stood there like an idiot while they handled it all, only able to marvel at how amazing they were, he felt utterly embarrassed.

"Who do you think will win the House Cup this time?" Harry probably did not want to think about Noah and the others either, so he immediately changed the subject.

"That... I don't know. All I can say is that Ravenclaw has the highest chance of winning, right?" Ron rubbed his mouth and said helplessly.

The highest chance?

Ron felt it was practically predetermined!

Thinking of those few people who were like point-scoring machines filled him with despair. And when he thought of spending seven years with them, his despair only deepened.

In the end, Ron's guess became reality.

He had been lucky enough to pass his first-year final exams, avoiding the tragedy of being in the same year as his sister. So he sat in the Great Hall during the end-of-year feast, listening as Dumbledore announced the winning House.

"Sure enough. I knew it would be them." Looking at the wildly excited Ravenclaw table, Ron's voice carried a trace of envy.

The House Cup was an annual Hogwarts award. At the end of each school year, it was given to the House with the highest number of points.

Those points came entirely from students' outstanding performances, which earned points for their Houses, while misconduct or violations of school rules resulted in deductions.

It could be said that this award carried far more weight than anything else. Even winning at Quidditch merely contributed points toward it. Calling it the school's highest honor would not be an exaggeration.

In truth, everyone wanted to win it.

"Honestly, it's great that they won the House Cup. At least it's better than Slytherin winning again," Harry said softly, propping up his head.

There was a trace of envy in his voice as well. Although Harry's various adventures had caused Gryffindor to lose quite a few points.

He had earned some of them back for Gryffindor through Quidditch and their final adventure, but compared to Ravenclaw, it was like a drop in the bucket.

"Hey, Harry. Have you noticed that Noah's expression looks a little strange?" Suddenly, Ron tugged at Harry's sleeve and pointed in Noah's direction.

"Of course his expression is strange. It's rare for him to guess wrong," Hermione, who was sitting not far from them, suddenly replied with a smile.

The end-of-year feast was arranged by House. Even though Hermione wanted to go over to Noah and the others, as a Gryffindor, she did not dare cause trouble at a time like this.

Wasn't Ernie sitting obediently with Hufflepuff too?

However, he was feeling rather troubled right now, because he had not expected his House to finish dead last.

"Guess wrong? What did he guess?"

After Hermione spoke, all the Gryffindors sitting near them became lively.

Although Noah was not a Gryffindor, his excellence was recognized by practically everyone. After all, he had placed first in the entire school in these final exams.

"At a previous gathering, they talked about who might win the House Cup. We all thought it would be Ravenclaw, but he alone thought it would not be," Hermione said with a smile. Her personality had become much better than before ever since she had gained Noah and the others as friends.

"Then which House did he guess?" Harry asked curiously. Noah was a Ravenclaw, so why had he not guessed his own House?

"He guessed Gryffindor."

"What? Us? Gryffindor? How is that possible? Why?"

"That was just his guess. Don't ask me, I have no idea. The important thing is that he was very confident in it. He even said that if he guessed wrong, we'd have our own recommendation slots next term. Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Hermione pressed her lips together and did not dare say more. Clearly, she knew she had revealed something she should not have.

Recommendation slots were precious—at least, they were incomparably precious to her!

Everyone could see how much she had gained by following Noah and joining their "Mage Alliance."

And with such a slot, she could recommend her closest friend to join. Although Hermione did not have many friends in Gryffindor, and there was no guarantee they would pass even if she recommended them, at least it gave them a chance, didn't it?

Who would dare make snide remarks about something Professor Dumbledore had approved?

Hermione glanced around at the Gryffindors nearby and found that they were not particularly interested in what she had said afterward. What interested them most was why Noah had thought Gryffindor would win, which made Hermione breathe a sigh of relief.

What she did not know was that Harry and Ron, the two who knew the situation, had caught the implication.

"Ron, do you think we should... give it a try?"

"Well... if we can, then of course. It's just... can the two of us do it?"

"Let's try. It's better than staying like this forever, right?"

"All right. But before that, we need to persuade Hermione."