Explosives Prodigy: Passion Ablaze!

By lunchtime, Ron had already gone home with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Loren felt that, now that things had reached this point, the rest could be left to Dumbledore. In fact, after telling Dumbledore what had happened, he had not been involved in anything else.

Harry stuffed bread into his mouth as he asked, "Loren, was it you who discovered..."

Bang!

An explosion suddenly rang out nearby. Seamus's face was blown black, and his hair stood on end, making him look utterly ridiculous.

"HAHAHAHA!" Dean Thomas laughed beside him so hard that all anyone could see were his teeth, though most of the time, all anyone could see were his teeth anyway.

Dean Thomas was a Black Gryffindor boy and Seamus's close friend. Whenever something like this happened, he was always the one laughing the loudest.

This was not the first time they had seen this scene. Whenever Seamus tried unfamiliar magic, he always blew something up. The blasts were never powerful enough to hurt anyone, but his face always ended up covered in soot.

Loren's attention was drawn over. Holding a Chicken Leg, he leaned toward Seamus with an eager look. "What spell was that?"

Dean Thomas answered before Seamus could. "He was trying to turn water into wine, but it blew up again."

Loren turned to him, wearing an expression that said, Kid, you're in luck. I have an ultimate secret technique to teach you. The task of saving the world and upholding justice is yours now. He said solemnly, "Seamus, have you ever considered that you might have a unique talent in this area?"

Seamus wiped his face clean with a napkin and rolled his eyes at Loren. "If you want it, I can give you that talent."

"Hehehe!" Loren coaxed, "I know a super cool spell. It really suits your style."

Dean looked curious as well. "Can I try it too?"

The three of them quickly filled their stomachs, then headed toward the Edge of the Forbidden Forest with their arms slung over one another's shoulders.

Harry watched them leave, feeling rather speechless. He had not even finished asking his question.

At another long table, Draco looked at Harry and sneered, "Look at that. The famous Harry Potter has been abandoned. All alone."

Harry was sick to death of him. Ever since the Train, Draco had arrogantly insisted on getting to know him and looked down on Ron. Their grudge had started then, and ever since, Draco took every chance he got to mock Harry.

Still, Slytherin and Gryffindor only had Potions class together. Thinking this, Harry ignored Draco and quickly returned to the common room.

Loren, Seamus, and Dean arrived at the Edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Looking at the Woods, Seamus asked, "Why did we come here? The professors don't allow us to enter the Forbidden Forest."

Loren was quite satisfied with the surroundings. He did not lead them any farther in, merely explaining, "Because it's fine if things get a little louder here."

"Let me show you something fun!" Loren picked up several branches and built them into a small door. Seamus and Dean looked puzzled.

Loren stepped aside. "Colloportus!"

He did not cast with his full strength, and the spell was pronounced clearly as "Colloportus," rather than the strange corrected pronunciation. A finger-thick streak of red light shot from the tip of his wand and struck the crude wooden door.

Boom!

The branches were blasted far away, leaving a blackened patch on the ground.

Seamus and Dean exchanged a glance. Their eyes lit up with delight as they shouted together, "So cool!"

Dean pressed on, "What kind of magic is that? Is it a family spell?"

Seamus was delighted too, though he put on an affectedly reserved air. "It really does suit my style. You can teach me."

Dean hurriedly chimed in, "Me too! Teach me too!"

Loren looked down on the two boys who hated studying. "If you two had previewed Standard Spellbook, you would know that this is just an outdated door-opening spell."

The two pretended not to hear the first half. Seamus sighed, "It really can open doors!"

He was thrilled. He swore on Sir Nicholas's head that he would definitely learn this spell and master it.

No eleven-year-old child could dislike firecrackers, much less when Loren wanted to let them play with RPGs. He urged them, "Hurry up and build a few more doors. You need them to practice the spell."

The three of them used wooden blocks, branches, and stones to build a ring of nearly twenty crude little doors. Loren explained the key points of casting to them: the spell's pronunciation and intonation, as well as the wand movement.

And so, the Edge of the Forbidden Forest began to ring endlessly with: Colloportus, Colloportus, Colloportus.

Before long, Seamus could blow the little wooden doors black. Dean, however, could only produce a faint light.

"I did it! I did it!" Seamus waved both hands, nearly flying with joy. He had never learned a spell so quickly before, nor achieved the desired effect so easily.

Loren was not sure whether Seamus had truly learned Colloportus, or whether his talent simply kicked in and produced this effect no matter what he said.

Dean kept chanting Colloportus, Colloportus. Damn it, he was looking at Seamus's talent—the one he had mocked before—with envy.

The two kept casting tirelessly. Seamus quickly became proficient, and Dean was eventually able to make the wooden doors tremble slightly.

Loren began teaching Seamus the strange corrected pronunciation, one syllable at a time. Their progress was not particularly fast.

But Seamus was incredibly excited and remembered every syllable perfectly. Then came the key to casting the spell: he had to imagine the target as a door he wanted to pass through.

Seamus tried the strange syllables, then cast the spell as Loren had instructed. The first few attempts were a little clumsy, and he failed to blow anything up.

Seamus felt somewhat disappointed, but when he saw Dean beside him still chanting Colloportus, Colloportus, his mood brightened again.

When he tried once more, Seamus was already able to blast a regular shape into the small wooden doors, spreading outward from a central point rather than leaving a huge blackened mess like before.

Loren could now confirm that Seamus had truly gotten the hang of it, rather than merely triggering his talent.

With Dean providing background noise, Loren and Seamus began attacking the surrounding trees. Seamus could only blast a layer of charcoal-black onto the trunks, while Loren did not use enough power to pierce through them.

Put more profoundly, when one possessed a weapon, the urge to kill arose. Put more simply, when a child barely over ten held a stick, none of the flowers or grass by the roadside would remain taller than his knees.

The two of them were like children holding fireworks, firing at the surroundings. "Whoosh~" "Bang!" "Whoosh~" "Bang!"...

Dean felt excluded. As he continued chanting Colloportus, he gritted his teeth and comforted himself. "I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous."

No one knew how long the three had been playing when Loren suddenly heard barking. Then Hagrid emerged from the Woods with Fang.

The ground and tree trunks around them were covered in black scorch marks.

Hagrid's face was dark as well. Fortunately, no animals had been hurt. He scolded, "Which house are you lot from?"

"It's you, kid!" Seeing Loren, Hagrid remembered that he was Harry's friend. Then he noticed the badges on the fronts of their robes and understood. Gryffindor.

He knew it. Only Gryffindors could pull something like this. He had been a Gryffindor himself once. Tsk, where had this inexplicable pride come from?

Hagrid grabbed Seamus and Dean by the backs of their collars, lifted them up, and carried them toward his hut. He said to Loren, "Perfect, you come too. I'll find something for you lot to do!"