Bouncing's New Friend

At dinner, Harry, whom everyone had been worried about, returned without receiving the slightest punishment.

Though no one knew what the mild-mannered Young Wizard had gone through, every new student congratulated him.

"Luan, you fired that pebble, didn't you?"

After happily responding to everyone's congratulations, Harry sat down at the table and fixed his eyes on Luan.

Hermione, who was reading and eating across the table, turned her head as well. She had thought she was the only one who knew Luan had done it.

"What pebble, Harry?" Ron leaned over curiously.

"The pebble that hit Malfoy's broom. If Luan hadn't hit him, I was planning to crash into him."

"So it was you! I was wondering why Malfoy searched around forever and still had no idea who did it. Haha, that's brilliant!"

Ron's voice grew louder and louder, but Harry immediately covered his mouth. Malfoy at the next table had already looked over.

It seemed that realizing Harry had not been expelled had made his gaze particularly unfriendly.

Ron glanced at the disgruntled Malfoy as well and nodded happily. Only then did Harry remove his hand.

"Luan, your slingshot aim is amazing. Malfoy must have been fifty feet up at the time, yet you actually hit the front of his broom!" Ron asked happily, taking a bite of pie.

"That's nothing. Luan used a slingshot to teach Dudley, my cousin, a lesson at the zoo. The distance then was much farther than today."

The incident Harry mentioned had happened before school started. Luan had simply disliked seeing that fat boy bully one of his own kind, so he had used scraps from wood carving to hit Harry's cousin's hand.

"If that's true, Luan, you could definitely become a Chaser on the Quidditch team."

Although Hermione had spent a week talking Luan's ear off about The Quidditch Ball, he did not know what a Chaser did.

That was because Hermione only cared about the rules of flying and had not mentioned the rules of the matches at all.

But when Ron mentioned the Quidditch team, Harry's expression became excited.

Only after the three of them pressed him curiously did Harry reveal that he had become the Gryffindor team's Seeker.

"One of you is a First Year Seeker, and the other is about to join Professor Sprout's club. How am I supposed to live with that?"

Ron's mood grew gloomy as he spoke. Ever since seeing the effect of Harry's fame after school began, he had cared deeply about such things.

Especially now that he had discovered the people around him were becoming more and more impressive, he felt even more depressed.

Luan had finished eating by then. He walked over and patted Ron on the shoulder.

"The Wizard Chess King of Hogwarts, please enjoy your meal. I'll be leaving first."

Hearing Luan's joking attempt at consolation, Ron's mood immediately improved.

He had just realized that he had strengths too.

"Alright, future Chaser, go check on your little saplings!" Ron shouted happily at Luan as he was about to leave the Great Hall.

But just as his voice fell, Malfoy's mocking laughter came from nearby.

"Chess King, Chaser? You lot?"

Every morning, Luan moved the little saplings onto the balcony, then moved them back into the dormitory in the evening.

Before Neville was injured, he would help Luan carry them. Now, only Bouncing stood nearby, chirping encouragement.

During the day, Bouncing was responsible for watching over the three little saplings and keeping other students' pets from ruining them.

Though Bouncing was small, it had already earned itself an honorary title in Gryffindor Tower.

Six-time Champion.

And Luan was honored to be the Six-time Champion's friend.

After moving all three pots of saplings back into the dormitory, Harry and Ron returned to the Common Room as well.

Luan noticed that neither of them looked well. Hermione also seemed somewhat off; while reading, she kept glancing in Harry and Ron's direction.

Seeing that none of them said what had happened, Luan quietly began reading the book he had borrowed from the library.

He had finished Wandmaking and Maintenance and was preparing to branch out into more magic books.

As for which ones to read, he did not need to think too hard about it, because Hermione would provide a reasonable reading list.

When most of the students had returned to their dormitories, Luan took Bouncing to the washroom.

He did not know what the little fellow had been up to, but it had carried a strong fishy smell for the past two days.

"Chirp~"

Bouncing played with bubbles in the washroom while explaining to Luan that it had gotten itself so smelly because it was preparing a gift for a new friend.

"You made a new friend? That's a good thing."

"Chirp?"

"Of course I'm not angry. As long as Bouncing is happy at Hogwarts, we can come bathe every day."

After drying Bouncing with a towel, Luan carried it back to the dormitory.

Early the next morning, Luan got up at six as usual to read.

By the time he had finished Oxford Reading Tree, his roommates had gradually come out as well.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Luan noticed that Harry, Ron, and Neville all had dark circles under their eyes, making him wonder whether something had happened the night before.

"No, last night we went—"

Ron had just begun to say something when Hermione emerged from the girls' dormitory.

"Ron, you're being too loud. Other people will hear."

Hermione also had dark circles beneath both eyes, and her tone was far from friendly.

Ron had wanted to argue, but remembering that Hermione's guess about what had happened last night was probably right, he shut his mouth.

"What happened? You have two Potions Classes this morning. Aren't you worried Snape will punish you looking like that?"

At the mention of two Potions Classes, Harry and Ron let out groans, while Neville froze in place.

The experience from last week's Potions Class was still vivid in his mind. Neville was now terribly afraid of Snape.

"How about Neville and I work together today? I happen to have previewed the material."

Seeing that Neville's eyes had already grown wet, Luan walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"But I don't know anything."

"Don't worry. You just need to take notes. Leave the rest to me."

As they spoke, they headed to the Great Hall. On the way, Harry quietly told Luan what had happened the night before.

The lot of them had actually gone out in the middle of the night to keep an appointment—an agreement to duel Malfoy.

"Damn it, that coward Malfoy actually stood us up." Ron was still angry just thinking about it.

"I told you long ago that Malfoy tricked you. He never intended to go there and duel you."

Hermione's tone was very stern, likely because she felt she had been dragged into becoming a bad student who broke school rules.

"Alright, at least we know what's hidden beneath that Trapdoor now."

Ever since Harry had learned about the Gringotts robbery, he had been paying close attention to the little package Hagrid had taken away.

The previous night, while hiding from Filch, they had discovered a Trapdoor guarded by a Three-Headed Dog in a dark room.

Harry believed that what lay beneath was very likely the thing Hagrid had taken away.

But it seemed only he and Ron cared about it. Hermione was still angry about becoming a rule-breaking student.

Neville, meanwhile, was worried about the upcoming Potions Class.

As for Luan, he only wanted to study magic properly so that he could deal with the war Xilin was about to unleash.

Seeing that his friends did not care much about the matter, Harry became somewhat disappointed.

But when he received a mysterious package at breakfast, he promptly forgot all about what was hidden beneath the Trapdoor.