Good News: The Permit Came Through! Bad News:

As the saying went—know yourself and know your enemy, and you would never be defeated in a hundred battles!

Hermione felt that if she could learn Dylan's approach to studying.

Then perhaps she, too, could communicate and exchange ideas with the professors as smoothly as Dylan did?

After observing and studying him for some time, she discovered...

Dylan had truly thrown himself completely into studying!

One day, she tried waiting for Dylan in the morning to see exactly what time he got up.

In the end, class started and she still had not seen him.

She had nearly ended up late herself!

That meant Dylan must have gotten up even earlier than she did!

This discovery left Hermione utterly shocked.

She had already gotten up at six-thirty to wait for Dylan.

Yet she still had not caught him. What time did this guy get up, exactly?

Surely he did not study all night!

Did he not need sleep at all?

The next day, Hermione tried getting up at six, but she still failed to catch him!

It was not until she forced herself to move the time up to five!

Dragging her groggy body into the Common Room to lie in wait, she finally caught Dylan!

That discovery also made Hermione completely abandon any thought of competing with Dylan to the bitter end.

To the bitter end...

If she kept competing, her life would reach its end first...

She had originally thought that getting up at six-thirty every day already made her very diligent. At the very least, everyone around her was still asleep at that hour.

She had not expected herself to be so shallow.

But after adjusting her mindset, Hermione discovered something else.

Dylan's attitude toward magic was such that he never became anxious just because he could not understand a slightly more complicated spell.

Unlike her—if she could not finish her homework or came across something difficult to understand, she would become terribly anxious.

He was always so calm and steady.

Sometimes, she truly suspected that the Sorting Hat had put Dylan in the wrong House.

"Good morning, Hermione!" Harry looked at Hermione and blinked. "You look much better than you did the past couple of days!"

Ron looked at her as well and nodded in agreement. "That's right. What were you doing those past few days? Your dark circles were huge!"

"..."

Hermione walked over and sat beside them. "Nothing. I just moved somewhere new, so I wasn't sleeping very well at night."

Ever since she stopped getting up early to follow Dylan, she had felt much more energetic.

Last night, she had even gotten a really good night's sleep!

How could her complexion not improve?

"We have Flying Class today. Are you all prepared?" Hermione looked at them.

Some time ago, in order to follow Dylan more effectively, she had deliberately grown closer to Harry and the others. She had wanted to build a good relationship with Dylan's roommates first, so she could gather some information about his studies.

As a result, she had become familiar with all of Dylan's roommates. In particular, she, Ron, and Harry had instead become good friends.

From time to time, they would gossip about Dylan behind his back.

"I'm a little nervous. I'm just afraid I'll embarrass myself," Harry answered honestly.

Dylan looked rather surprised, holding a small piece of sliced bread in his right hand. "Embarrass yourself?"

"Is that really something to worry about? We're all beginners at magic. It's perfectly normal not to do well at first. Just practice more, and you'll become proficient."

The corners of Harry and the others' mouths twitched as they all looked at Dylan.

Anyone could say that except you!

They were indeed beginners at magic, but what about him?

With all those flashy advanced spells he demonstrated in class, could he still be considered a "beginner"?!

Hermione picked up the glass of milk in front of her.

At the same time, she pulled out a copy of Quidditch Battle and began reading it carefully.

"I heard flying is very difficult to control, and it's easy to make a fool of yourself! If I don't learn it well, the professor definitely won't give me a high mark in this class!"

Dylan glanced at her. "As far as I know, although Flying Class is a required subject in our first-year final exams, it only assesses our flying posture."

"You only need to control your broom and complete a few simple movements. You won't be given a low score because of how you perform in the first class."

Hermione nodded lightly, though she still flipped through the book in her hands, trying to see whether there were any flying techniques she could learn from the Quidditch Match.

Seeing this, Dylan shrugged.

Though Hermione was clever and hardworking, she pursued perfection a little too much. She wished she could memorize every single point of knowledge and make everything flawless.

But after mastering several Max Level Spells, Dylan had come to understand that some magic only needed to be usable, while other magic was worth perfecting.

Take Flying Class, for example. If someone could use Apparition continuously without interruption, how was that any different from being able to fly?

There was no difference at all!

So among the vast sea of spells, the effects displayed by some spells were covered by others.

Rather than trying to grasp everything, it was better to let go of some things and hold tightly to others.

"Flutter, flutter—"

Just as Dylan was about to have some Sea Cucumber Soup, a large flock of owls suddenly flew in from outside the Great Hall.

At the same time, a white figure flapped over and landed beside Dylan's table.

"Luna?" Dylan froze.

Looking at the pure white owl before him, he noticed the letters tied to Luna's leg.

"Could these be letters from Mum and Dad? But why are there two?"

Surely his parents had not each written him a separate letter?

They were an old married couple already. Was there really something they wanted to tell their son that the other could not know?

Dylan untied the envelopes from Luna's leg.

Hermione and Harry beside him also leaned over, but instead of looking directly at the letters in Dylan's hand, they looked at a gleaming silver card tucked inside one of the envelopes.

"Wow! What's this?" Ron asked curiously.

Dylan was not sure either, so he pulled it out and took a look.

Only then did he realize that it was a permit.

A permit to keep a Shadow Crow!

Dylan's heart leaped with joy.

He skimmed through the contents of the letter.

One was from the Magical Creatures Management Bureau, stating roughly that he had been approved to keep a Shadow Crow.

What was strange, however, was that the person who had guaranteed and recommended him was not Hagrid, but Professor Dumbledore.

Curious, he opened the other letter.

This one was from Hagrid. It explained that Hagrid had originally wanted to write Dylan a letter of recommendation himself.

But because there were certain circumstances surrounding Hagrid that were not convenient to explain, he had ultimately gone to Professor Dumbledore for help so as not to affect Dylan.

The letter also said that if Dylan had time, he could go thank Professor Dumbledore for his assistance.

"Uh..."

The joy in Dylan's heart was instantly shattered, leaving him feeling helpless.

Come on, Hagrid. If you couldn't help... you didn't have to agree so quickly!

Go find Dumbledore and thank him in person?

It was not impossible.

It was just...