The Worst Thing Is When Friends Suddenly Show Concern

"---- Ginny, and that Malfoy." Ron finished each word slowly, making an exaggerated expression of disgust. "Who do you want to team up with? If you team up with Ginny, Pansy will definitely have to team up with Draco, which she'd be happy to do. But if you team up with Malfoy, what about Ginny?"

"As for Ginny and Parkinson being paired together—" Ron rolled his eyes, "Merlin bless them, that training room is likely to become the fuse for the Third Wizarding War."

Seamus was speechless after hearing Ron's series of misfortunes, and could only gulp down another mouthful of Pumpkin Juice, as if that could quench the turmoil in his heart.

"So you see," Ron patted his shoulder, his tone softening, "This team is at least a result of some work-in, and it's efficient, as Professor McGonagall and Harry are watching. Your personal feelings can't, and shouldn't, be an excuse to disrupt the whole plan. I'm not saying you shouldn't have your own feelings, brother, but sometimes you have to prioritize and face your own feelings."

Ron rarely said something so reasonable; even he felt like he was channeling Percy, so he quickly shook his head.

Seamus remained silent for a long time, his gaze lingering between the Gryffindor Long Table and Slytherin Long Table, finally settling on the half-empty Pumpkin Juice glass in front of him.

"I—I need to think about it," he said softly.

"Thinking about it is fine," Ron said, picking up a piece of pie, "But don't think about it for too long. Feelings aren't like Charms; you can't break them by just thinking about them. They need action, or at least effective communication. Do you agree with me?"

Seamus sighed repeatedly, seemingly wanting to speak but then stopping himself.

Dinner ended in an extremely abstract atmosphere. Harry and Hermione had finished discussing the preliminary plan and came to find them. They keenly noticed the unusual quiet between Seamus and Ron, as well as the overly deliberate laughter of Lavender not far away.

"How so? Everything seems alright?" Harry asked tentatively.

"That's good," Ron quickly replied, standing up. "It's just that some people might need a little special comfort."

Hermione glanced at Seamus with a puzzled look. Seamus simply shook his head and forced a smile, "It's nothing, I'm just a little too full."

That night, the Room of Requirement was transformed into a temporary tactical analysis room, with the ten core members sitting in a circle. In the center was the second-phase training blueprint that Hermione had worked on overnight, as well as the first batch of concept sketches and explanations of principles sent by the Twins via an emergency owl.

The discussion mainly focused on how to incorporate Weasley's new product. Ginny, who was invited as Quidditch tactical advisor, suggested adding a simple "signaling" element to simulate how to maintain communication under sudden noise or interference.

Pansy sat on the Slytherin side, as always, with a straight back and a detached expression, but every time she spoke, she hit the nail on the head.

"Some of Finnegan's Charms can be used to create primary interference, which, combined with my pre-planned arrangements, can force trainees to make path choices under sensory conflict. But the key is that his timing must be absolutely perfect; otherwise, it's just ineffective noise and decoration."

As she said this, Pansy glanced at Seamus.

This time, instead of immediately grinning and assuring everyone "no problem" as usual, Seamus nodded slightly, his voice lower than usual. "Understood, I will keep precise timing."

Pansy raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more, only glancing at him once more.

Draco lazily twirled the Quill in his hand, drawing out his words: "Oh, what a touching display of perfect inter-hospital coordination. Hopefully, some people's personal life issues won't affect the stable output of magic. After all, we don't want to see what should be a serious training session turn into a farce caused by a lack of focus."

Seamus's face flushed red, his hands clenched into fists, and he glared at Draco through gritted teeth, his teeth itching with hatred.

Ron kicked him under the table.

Harry cleared his throat, steer the conversation back on track. "Emotional management is also part of the practical application, Draco. But we're discussing technical solutions now. Hermione, what's Madam Pomfrey's opinion regarding the safety threshold for the Resonance Patch?"

As the meeting ended, Merpeople out. Seamus deliberately lingered until the very end, while Pansy, as always, left first without giving him a second glance.

In the hallway, Harry called out to Seamus was walking with his head down.

"Seamus."

Seamus stopped walking, but didn't turn around.

"Ron told me a little bit," Harry said, walking up to him calmly. "I won't ask for details. I just want to say that this project is very important to us, and to many of the new students. You're a key part of it. If any personal matters are affecting you, I hope you can handle them, or at least let us know so we can make adjustments—please don't try to tough it out."

Seamus finally turned around, his face full of frustration and confusion. "I don't know what to do, Harry. I don't think I've done anything wrong, I just want to train well—but things seem to have gotten complicated."

Harry shrugged. "Sometimes things just get complicated on their own. But running away or pretending it doesn't exist usually makes it more complicated. Have a serious talk with Lavender, not an explanation—"

"It's over," Seamus said with a sigh. "In short, everything's over."

Harry patted him on the shoulder, smiling reassuringly, "Well, let it be. As for Pansy, she's a great partner, and maintaining that professional relationship is good for training. The rest—well, we'll talk about that when you've thought it through. But whatever you do, don't let your chaotic emotions affect your judgment in the Room of Requirement. What's needed there is a clear head and steady magic, for whatever reason."

Seamus let out a long breath and nodded. "I understand, Harry. Thank you."

"Go back and get some rest. You have an exam the day after tomorrow." Harry patted him on the shoulder. "Make the most of your time and study hard. Don't come back with a bunch of failing grades."

The next morning, the owl brought several packages.

As Seamus absentmindedly opened the box labeled "Resonance Patch - Experimental," a small card floated out. It wasn't a product manual, but rather George's crooked handwriting. "To Seamus:

I heard you've been going through some emotional turmoil lately.

Bonus: One piece of Weasley's exclusive advice:

Sometimes, the biggest explosion doesn't come from the wand, but from what wasn't said clearly.

P. S.: The product is safe to use. But we can't guarantee your peace of mind.

G&F (Temporary Emotional Consultant Version)

"What?" Ron craned his neck towards him. "What's this? You're most afraid of sudden concern from friends?"

"No, what I fear most is the sudden silence." Seamus rolled his eyes at Ron, then chuckled and stuffed the card into his pocket.

In any case, he already has a solution.

"Tomorrow's the final exams," Ron mumbled, adding milk to his oatmeal, a spoon dangling from his mouth. "How's your preparation going?"

"Not very well," Seamus said with a smile. "Apart from Transfiguration, I'm not very confident in any of the other courses."

"Really?" Ron was clearly skeptical. "I see you're usually quite diligent; I even saw you studying hard yesterday."

"That's what you do to maintain your wand right before a duel," Seamus sighed. "I've already given up hope on the result."

Ron believed this, after all, in previous years, Seamus had indeed been one of the players who tanked.

Of course, he even became a representative figure of the "giving up" group this year.

While reviewing Transfiguration, he kept yawning as he looked at the book "Advanced Transfiguration Theory," claiming, "Turning a teacup into a mouse and turning a mouse into a teacup are essentially disrespectful to the form of objects; I choose to respect their original appearance."

Before his Potions Class, he sniffed the suspiciously colored Draught of Peace in his cauldron and said to Neville, "I think it's more like a new type of shampoo, maybe it can cure hair loss?"

Ron became even more anxious at his appearance. "Seamus! At least look at your books! This exam is related to your NEWTs course selection eligibility next year! Don't you want to learn some advanced Charms?"

Seamus shrugged, popped a piece of Fizzing Whizzbees into his mouth, and mumbled, "What you need to know, you already know; what you don't know, it's too late to learn now. Trust me, Ron, sometimes improvisation is more effective than rote memorization. Have you ever seen me mess up in a real battle?"

That's true. In the various simulated scenarios of the safety training program, Seamus's almost instinctive quick reactions and precise application of Charms —although occasionally accompanied by some unplanned fireworks effects—even Professor McGonagall had subtly praised his progress.

But Ron felt that exams were another matter, especially those Care of Magical Creatures papers that required lengthy explanations of "the influence of Augurey migration and lunar phases on the mood of the Bowtruckle."

"How could Professor Sweeting give us such a question!" Ron complained angrily to Harry after the exam. "Harry, she's your girlfriend! Why didn't you give us a hint about the exam questions before class?"

"Wouldn't that take away a lot of the fun?" Harry looked at Ron with a smile.

"Fun?" Ron asked confused, "What fun?"

"Of course, it's the fun of your wailing after the exam!" Harry laughed loudly. "Don't you think it's really entertaining? Your agonizing wailing will be the best proof that my questions are effective!"

"What!" Ron's eyes widened instantly. "You came up with this awful question?! I'll strangle you!"

He roared and lunged at Harry, grabbing Harry's neck with both hands and shaking him wildly up and down, left and right.

Harry played along perfectly, sticking out his tongue and pretending to be dying.

Exam week finally ended with all the sixth graders exhausted, their eyes glazed over, looking as if their bodies had been hollowed out.

Ron's hands trembled as he opened his report card and quickly scanned it, "---- Astronomy A (Pass), Potions E (Exceeds Expectations)---- Defense Against the Dark Arts 0 (Excellent)! Merlin! I got a 0 in Defense Against the Dark Arts! Thank you, Professor Slughorn, I can never repay Professor Slughorn's kindness---- Hermione, look!"

He excitedly shook Hermione beside him, Hermione was calmly looking at her report card, which was almost entirely filled with "0"s, except for Potions, which was an E.

This was the highest praise Professor Snape could give her.

Neville let out a soft gasp of surprise. His Herbology was unsurprisingly 0, but even more exciting was that he got E in Charms and Potions Class.

"Grandma will be happy—" he muttered to himself, his face flushed.

Seamus slowly pulled out the report card, glanced at it, then exclaimed "Huh?", rubbed his eyes, and looked at it carefully again.

"What's wrong?" Ron leaned closer. "Didn't do well on the test? It's okay, guys, don't be sad if you didn't do well."

Seamus didn't say anything, but silently pushed the report card to the center of the table.

All of them are 0.

Ron's mouth was so wide open it could fit a whole horse.

"All zeros? Seamus?! You call this 'not confident except for Transfiguration '?! You call your miserable state 'not studying'?!"

"Oh," Seamus said casually, "I was just kidding. Actually, I've been secretly studying—while you were playing Diablo, I was reading a book—"

"What?!" Ron slammed his fist on the table in a rage. "You betrayed us! You traitor!"

Seamus didn't say anything, but quickly bared his teeth at Ron, looking incredibly irritating.

"I can't take it anymore." Even Neville, the honest man, started rolling up his sleeves.

"I can't stand it either!" Ron suddenly stood up, put one foot on the stool, and shouted, "Brothers! There's someone here who pretends not to study every day, but secretly works hard and gets zeros on his tests. Tell me, can we tolerate this?!"

"No!" the Great Hall shouted in unison, even the Slytherin joined in.

"Then what are we waiting for!" Ron shouted, raising his arms. "Brothers! Let's charge!"

"You!" Seamus panicked. "What are you trying to do?"

Ron physically disarmed Seamus, snatched the wand from his pocket, and cackled, "Guess what?"

Anyway, we think your end won't be good----"

He gave a shout, and the young men, led by Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, lifted Seamus and ran to the marble pillars of the Great Hall.

Several people carried Seamus's body, and two people carried his legs, and they banged his head against the pillar repeatedly.

Aruba is something that schools in every country, whether in the Muggle World or Wizarding World, have to experience.

Of course, the names may differ from place to place, but they are essentially the same.

"Youth is wonderful!"

Dumbledore sat in the High Table, looking over here, showing no intention of intervening, his face full of benevolence and smiles.

"That's what restless youth is like," Pabbie commented from the side. "I remember Sebastian and Gareth and a few other bad boys used to bully Harry like this, because he secretly got eleven zeros on his third-year final exams."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore's lips curled into a slight smile, clearly in a good mood.