Halloween (2)

As Fren leaned over, Jon was cutting himself a piece of Pumpkin Pie. Hearing Fren's question, he nodded.

"More or less. Professor Sprout said she'd handle it and told us to wait."

"Really?"

Fren looked rather excited. Jon had told them about the club before, and for a student from a Muggle-born family like him, this was very good news.

Although he usually studied magic under Jon's guidance, Jon's teaching methods were honestly rather difficult to understand. Much of the time, he needed Stephen and Scaly to break down Jon's lessons for him after listening, and only then could he barely keep up with the other two.

It was not that there was anything wrong with what Jon taught. The main issue was that Jon often skipped over common knowledge about the Wizarding World. And as a Muggle-born wizard, that was precisely the sort of knowledge Fren lacked most.

Fren smiled, took his chicken drumstick, and left to join Stephen and the others gathered nearby, giving Jon time to eat properly. It was an unspoken understanding among them.

Jon was always thinking while he ate. At this moment, for instance, he was going over the matter of the club in his mind.

He had seriously considered the feasibility of promoting this club at Hogwarts. The reason he had made the request to Professor Sprout was that the advantages of the club outweighed its disadvantages.

The only idea he had brought up in Professor Sprout's office—that Professor Sprout should be the club's founder—had occurred to him on the spot. After all, Professor Sprout had indeed reminded him that he was only a first-year student.

It was not that first-years and older students had any difference in status. Hogwarts had always respected talent. But Jon felt that if he founded the club himself, along with some of his own efforts to promote it, the club would inevitably attract a great deal of attention.

That conflicted with his own beliefs.

He did not like living under everyone's gaze. That feeling was far too uncomfortable, giving him the illusion of being watched. Having every movement observed and interpreted would undoubtedly cause him a great deal of trouble.

And most importantly—Jon glanced at the tall figure seated among the teachers—he was not yet ready to face Dumbledore directly.

Especially since he had known Dumbledore's fate from the beginning, and later learned that Dumbledore had helped his own Ancestor secretly search for descendants of the Hufflepuff family for many years, Jon wanted to face him even less.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, that debt of gratitude had already been incurred. Helga now only needed to drink "tea" and eat "snacks" every day in the portrait world, while all those debts outside had to be repaid by Jon, her only blood descendant at Hogwarts.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

Setting that aside, Hufflepuff being the largest house was another reason Jon wanted to promote the club.

After seeing Ravenclaw's common room, Jon had suddenly realized something.

Every house at Hogwarts had enjoyed its own period of glory. But after several cycles of rise and fall, whenever Hufflepuff lacked exceptionally outstanding students, it would sink to the bottom.

The little eagles of Ravenclaw looked down on everyone, the little snakes of Slytherin considered themselves superior, and even Gryffindor students did not think much of Hufflepuff students.

At its root, this was because Helga Hufflepuff had chosen, countless years ago, to accept every student rejected by the other houses.

Jon could not let others think that decision had been wrong—especially when it had been the right decision all along.

Every wizard was an asset. No matter their background, on these British Isles, wizards were the strongest force of all.

Especially now, as the growth of magical elements throughout the world continued to intensify, the magical world ahead might rebound after hitting bottom and transform this world. And it would not only be Britain's Wizarding World that benefited from such changes, but the Wizarding World across the globe.

Naturally, those who benefited would not only be good wizards, but dark wizards as well.

In the end, it came down to one thing: wizards were human, and what was humanity's true nature?

It was certainly not pure kindness.

What made wizards powerful was individual strength. When individual power became too great, it turned extreme. Whether it was a dark wizard like Voldemort or Dumbledore, who suppressed the Western Wizarding World through his own strength, both were manifestations of that extremity. The facts proved that Jon's concerns were not unfounded.

Within the portrait, Helga absorbed magical energy through Hogwarts Castle's Magic array to maintain the stability of the Portrait Space, so she was the most sensitive to rises in magical energy concentration. Having lived in the Portrait Space for nearly a thousand years, she could notice even the slightest refinement in any part of that place.

Helga had conveyed all these changes to Jon, and Jon had used them to support his own views and deductions.

This club was Jon's experiment. He was trying to change Hufflepuff, because after graduation, Hufflepuff students generally took on the most fundamental jobs in the magical world. They were the foundation of the magical world.

Perhaps they could not reach the heights of Legendary Wizards, but there were many of them.

No matter the world, the majority led by certain people were destined to have the last laugh.

Jon could not yet become one of those "certain people," but that was his goal. He wanted to become a driving force, one that pushed the entire magical world forward, rather than one that fought for power and profit in some small corner.

The greatest difference between him and Voldemort was that he yearned for peaceful development and order.

Huh? That seemed to be the ideal passed down by the Hufflepuff family.

When had he heard Helga mention that? He could not remember clearly.

As Jon thought about all this, he shoved the last spoonful of pudding into his mouth.

At that moment, music began to play once more.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Please teach us knowledge, Whether we are bald old men

Or children with skinned knees, ..."

The Hogwarts school song rang out, announcing the end of the feast.

The lively banquet had lasted for more than two hours.

"This has certainly been a wonderful evening."

Dumbledore on the raised platform wiped his beard, then said with a smile, "But now, everyone should probably return to rest!"

As soon as his words fell, the students began filing out of the Great Hall...

Jon could not help feeling that something was strange, because he had not seen Professor Sprout at the teachers' table just now.

Where had the professor gone?