Harmless Minor Curses (Second Update)

Bringing Magical Creatures into the Muggle world is indeed a very serious offense.

Especially for Unicorn... the Magical Creatures of Magical Creatures creatures, they'll be granted admission to Azkaban and enjoy one-on-one tutoring from the silver-medal Dementor.

What? You're asking about top-tier tutors?

That's Voldemort, of course, the one who tutored Mr. Potter one-on-one at the end of last semester.

It's one thing to bring along a small creature like Niffler Niffler, since they look like big rats and are easy to carry... but they do have some minor, harmless quirks, like their penchant for collecting gold bars at the docks.

But Unicorn —it's a bit too eye-catching.

"Of course, you were attacked by Voldemort recently," Harry said with concern. "Remember what Professor Hoot said? It's not the thief you should fear, but the one who's eyeing you—you're now being targeted by Voldemort. I really wonder when he'll sneak into the Forbidden Forest to attack you again; after all, he escaped from the dungeons..."

Pabbie thought about it and realized that Harry's words made a lot of sense.

If Voldemort were to target her again, she wouldn't be able to escape this time without Harry's help...

This Voldemort... he really isn't a human being.

Oh dear, it's not my fault. Who would have thought that despicable Voldemort would lie in ambush and attack me? I'm over a hundred years old! she thought.

Thinking about it that way, Pabbie realized that he should indeed go with Harry.

"I can't exactly run around with you outside, can I?" Pabbie with some concern. "If the Ministry of Magic catches you, you'll be going to the Wizengamot —buying and selling Unicorn is a serious crime."

"A box with Untraceable Extension Charm." Harry patted the suitcase. "I trust you; you won't eat all my books."

"Ugh! You!" Pabbie relentlessly grabbed Harry's clothes, shaking them back and forth in a muffled voice, "Harry ~ Harry ~ what do you take me for!"

"But..."

Pabbie then said that she shook her head and the horns on her head disappeared.

"I can hide it."

"Cool." Harry patted Pabbie's head in surprise. "Hey, it's really gone! How did you do that?"

"I won't tell you," Pabbie whispered.

"Alright." Harry opened the suitcase. "How about... you jump in first?"

"Nobody noticed, right?" Pabbie drawled, looking behind Harry.

After confirming that no one was around, Pabbie leaped into the suitcase.

"Make me a lamp!" Pabbie shouted from inside the suitcase.

Harry waved his wand, conjuring a bright lamp for Pabbie, and stuffed it into the suitcase.

"Let's go," Harry said, "I'll take you away first..."

He closed his suitcase and slipped away all the way to Hogwarts Castle.

Since he left, Neville had been looking for his toad—thankfully, all the Gryffindor students were helping him search, conducting a full-scale search of the entire castle, and finally found the toad in a corner of the girls' washroom.

The notice was sent to every student, warning them not to use magic during the holidays.

"I actually wish they'd forgotten to send this thing to us," Fred and George said in unison, looking quite regretful.

For the first time ever, Hermione agreed with what they were saying.

"I think so too. Not using Charms at home for extended periods can lead to rust." Hermione shoved the letter under her plate. "I think we should talk to the Headmaster about this..."

"That's the rule of the Ministry of Magic, Hermione," George said.

"Then let's report this to the Minister for Magic," Hermione said again.

"I don't think those old fogies at the Ministry of Magic will listen to you, Miss Know-it-all," Fred chuckled. "I think the probability of you becoming Minister for Magic is greater than the probability of the Minister for Magic listening to your opinions."

Hermione rolled her eyes at them; those Twins just loved to joke around.

I?

Minister for Magic?

Stop joking.

I'm just a witch from the Muggle Family. Those wizards who worship Pure-blood wouldn't allow a Muggle-born to be Minister for Magic.

After having breakfast in the Great Hall, the Hogwarts students began their journey home.

Hagrid was still in charge of guiding the students onto the boats moored on the lake, and as Harry passed by him, he even slipped Harry a bag of berries picked from the Forbidden Forest.

"Thank you, Hagrid," Harry said happily.

"Share it with your friends," Hagrid said with a grin. "And if you need Rock Cakes, or a weasel Meiji..."

"No, Hagrid, we all brought our own lunch," Ron quickly replied.

He was terrified of the texture of the Rock Cakes and the hellish taste of the weasel Meiji.

Heaven knows why Hagrid, that big guy, loves making such bizarre and culinary disasters.

"Remember to write to me, Harry," Hagrid waved to them, "And you lot too."

"We will," Ron said with a smile, waving goodbye to Hagrid.

After boarding the train, Harry, Ron, and Hermione found an empty compartment.

Neville and Seamus were picked up by their parents early, so they did not ride the Hogwarts Express.

This car is advertised as being super fast, but its actual speed... well...

The last time the speed was increased was thanks to Mr. Septimus Mr. Malfoy's generous donation to upgrade the train's operating system.

"Time flies," Ron remarked. "You know, it feels so unreal, but also so relaxing—oh my god."

"You should know, Ron," Hermione kindly reminded him, "Professor Snape and Professor Binns gave us summer homework—good heavens, a paper eleven inches long, I have no idea how to write it..."

"Eleven inches," Ron said nonchalantly. "You just need to write the words bigger, and widen the line spacing and letter spacing, and you can achieve an eleven-inch length with the fewest words possible, right?"

"Oh, thank you, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes. "You don't think Professor Snape is an idiot who doesn't know your little tricks, do you?"

"Professor Snape might not be so smart, but Professor Binns is definitely not." Ron said with a grin, "I bet Professor Binns wouldn't even bother grading these assignments, because he'd never even see them!"

The joke was so hellish that Hermione laughed for a while with a heavy heart.

I think—

Before Ron could finish speaking, there was a knock on the door of the private room.

"Go in," Hermione said.

The door to the private room was opened, and standing in the doorway was a Hufflepuff boy.

"Oh, Cedric," Harry greeted him.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione," Cedric smiled warmly, quite at ease, and looked at the three children, asking, "May I sit here?"

"Of course," they all said in unison.

Cedric sat down next to Harry, looked at Harry, and said, "Actually, Harry, I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Harry opened a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, took out a brown one for himself, and handed it to Cedric so that he could take one and try it too.

Cedric pulled out a fiery red object, examined it in his hand, and said, "I... um, I heard you started a Dueling Club in Gryffindor? Is that true?"

"Yes." Harry put the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in his mouth and gently smacked his lips.

It's chocolate flavored and delicious.

"Oh, is that so?" Cedric also ate the candy, but then revealed a pained expression, his handsome face turning bright red.

Ron chuckled to himself, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

Hermione nudged him lightly with her elbow, telling him not to be so obvious.

"It's chili-flavored," Cedric said, slurping.

Harry took the unopened Coke from the table and handed it to Cedric. Cedric took the Coke, popped it open, and gulped down two mouthfuls, finally getting rid of the burning sensation.

"Well, I have to admit, Muggle drinks are still pretty magical—look at these bubbles?" Cedric remarked, then added, "Well, I wanted to ask you if it would be possible to let Hufflepuff's classmates join your Dueling Club."

"No problem." Harry wasn't opposed to having some Hufflepuff classmates. "But one thing, don't let the professor know—because the Dueling Club practices some Harmless Minor Curses with each other."

Hermione's eyes widened when she heard "Harmless Minor Curses".

Good heavens! You're really planning to teach that stuff in the Dueling Club?!

Poor Cedric hadn't yet realized what Harry meant, a happy smile spreading across his handsome face.

"Thank you, Harry, thank you," he said. "I can't believe you accepted my request—you know, before I came here, many people didn't quite believe my judgment; they thought you wouldn't accept students from other houses."

Harry smiled.

"We're both Hogwarts students, Cedric —may I call you that?"

"Of course, Harry." Cedric was even more pleased. "I think if it's a duel, practicing some Harmless Minor Curses wouldn't be a big deal. After all, how can we better counter them if we don't understand them? Besides, we also need some useful Charms to fight the bad guys among the wizards."

"Of course," Harry said with a smile. "Just as you said, the purpose of our Dueling Club is to make students understand the dangers of society."

"Okay, Harry, thank you." Cedric stood up. "I think I should go. They're waiting for me to come back and give them the results."

"Okay, goodbye, Cedric." Harry nodded with a smile.

Ron and Hermione said goodbye to Cedric together. The sunny and cheerful boy said goodbye to them one by one and then turned and left the box.

Once Cedric closed the door, Hermione couldn't hold back any longer.

"Oh my god! Harry, are you really going to teach us that... that kind of evil curse?"

"What's all the fuss about, Hermione?" Harry gave Hermione a strange look.

"Was I too excited?" Hermione slapped her thigh. "No, Harry, I still need to correct you. Don't let certain families sway your thinking..."

Certain families?

Harry thought, "They must be talking about the Gaunt family."

"You're mistaken, Hermione. It's really just Harmless Minor Curses," Harry said to Hermione with a laugh. "Don't always let your imagination run wild."

"Oh? Oh!" Hermione was stunned, then she understood what Harry meant.

"Oh, it's just Harmless Minor Curses. I thought it was..." Hermione thought for a long time, gesturing with her fingers in the air, but she didn't dare say the spell aloud. "... well."

"The Imperius Curse?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Do you really have to say that spell, Potter?"

"This is part of my study plan," Harry said to Hermione. "The Imperius Curse... is a lesson you'll be learning next."

Hermione froze, and the Licorice Wand in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.

"No, what did you say?" she asked incredulously.

"The Imperius Curse is our next learning objective," Ron repeated nonchalantly. "If I heard correctly."

Hey, it's all about studying, what's the difference between studying and learning?

Ron has come to terms with it and is sure to follow Harry's pace—after all, neither the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor nor the Dark Lord can beat him, right?

"Won't we get arrested by the Ministry of Magic if we learn this Charms?" Hermione said in despair. "Oh my god, if they find out, we might get expelled..."

"As long as we don't get caught, it'll be fine." Harry crossed his legs and said to Hermione, "This Charms is a bit special, Hermione. You should know that being Charms multiple times can make you resistant to it. I'm not trying to make you master the Charms itself, but to hone your willpower and make you resistant to Charms."

See, this is the art of speaking.

After hearing what Harry said, Hermione felt that learning this little Charms wasn't so unacceptable after all.

"Well, if that's the case, I think we should give it a try," Hermione said. "After all, Dark Wizard don't reason with us, right, Ron?"

"Yes." Ron nodded crisply.

As the train was about to arrive at the platform, Harry and his friends had changed their clothes.

Finally, the train slowly came to a stop at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

The exit process was slow; it took them a long time to finally walk out of the platform in a long queue.

A gaunt old guard stood at the ticket gate, allowing only two or three people to pass at a time, so that they wouldn't attract the attention of the Muggle by having a large group of people coming in and out of the solid wall at the same time.

"You absolutely have to come over to my house this summer, Harry," Ron invited Harry. "You know, my mom's been talking about you non-stop..."

"Okay, no problem."

Harry patted Ron's arm, something that was also on his agenda.

"I'll come visit you at your home once I've finished what I'm doing."

When Harry exited the station, he saw Mrs. Weasley, who was with her youngest daughter Ginny, picking up Ron, the twins, and Percy.

Harry expressed his heartfelt gratitude for her Christmas present and accepted again her invitation to visit the Weasley family during the summer holidays.

As he stepped off the platform, he took a deep breath.

Um...

Next stop, should we go to the Leaky Cauldron?

No, we should go to Knockturn Alley to stock up—how can we practice harmless little Charms without a second wand?