Ready

After October ended, a cold snap arrived.

Perhaps because of its relatively high latitude, Hogwarts' cold was still only physical discomfort. Before the damp air could descend, it turned into snowflakes drifting from the sky.

By mid-November, winter had arrived.

The students in the castle had all put on coats and scarves, and Jon was naturally no exception. Already somewhat intolerant of the cold, he had brought several thick clothes from home at the start of term. After Halloween, he had wrapped up every part of his body exposed to the air early on. Combined with the temperature-regulating magic placed inside his robes, he did not feel uncomfortable at all.

The Hufflepuff students had gradually put the Halloween notice out of their minds as well. Although the little notice board still stood in a corner of the Common Room, everyone had been drawn to something else.

Hogwarts' Quidditch season had begun.

Recently, every morning, Jon could see Hagrid, the groundskeeper, wearing a leather coat as he defrosted Flying Broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch.

Jon had no interest in Quidditch. Although his flying class grades were fairly good, he did not like sports by nature. Besides, he found flying around in the air while playing ball boring. With that time, he would rather study what use the monocle Ravenclaw had left behind actually had.

In any case, there were countless Hufflepuff House students who liked Quidditch. One less Jon made no difference at all.

Stephen and the other two were very excited. Including Fren, they were all devoted Quidditch fans. Even if they could not play themselves, they showed up for every match.

Jon was there too, of course, but someone had dragged him along. He sat in the stands like a mannequin.

The students competing in the sky flew back and forth, while Jon could only sit between Fren and Scaly and stare blankly.

Meditation was out of the question. It was too noisy here, and his meditation would be easily interrupted. Jon's gaze swept over the Slytherin stands. Because of Helga, he happened to know that several Slytherin students possessed methods of training magical power that were unaffected by their surroundings, making them even more convenient than the Meditation Method.

But he probably would not be able to get his hands on them easily.

After all, they were inheritances passed down through wizarding families. If they were truly that easy to obtain, methods for training magical power would not be so precious.

This was one of the advantages of a wizarding family's inheritance, perhaps. Their training methods were somewhat better than Jon's Meditation Method, while the period during which Jon's Meditation Method was effective was far too short. Even now, Jon could feel that the speed at which he absorbed magical particles during meditation had slowed.

By the time he reached his second year, the Meditation Method probably would no longer help his magical power training much. Of course, it could still be used to restore his mental energy.

According to Helga, his current level was already enough for him to attend third-year classes, if Hogwarts allowed students to skip grades.

Christmas was fast approaching. Jon had already prepared a large bag with an expanded interior, intending to bring Helga's portrait home from Ravenclaw's Study and place his Ancestor in the study.

That way, he could receive Helga's instruction at home.

And once Helga's identity appeared in his home, his House-elf butler would surely be even happier than he was. After all, Helga possessed a reputation among House-elves that no other creature could hope to match.

Perhaps then he could use Helga Kaledi to accomplish something. A House-elf's magical abilities were far too wasted on merely guarding a house.

And with Helga's reputation...

Even though House-elves could not betray their masters, if Jon wanted to gather any information, there was absolutely no more convenient route than this.

Jon seemed to already see an information network made up of House-elves beckoning to him.

"Hey! Jon, what are you spacing out for?"

Called back to reality by Scaly's voice, Jon finally realized the match had ended.

"Why was it so fast?" He paused in surprise. "Which team won?"

"Of course... Gryffindor."

Scaly looked rather dejected, but he quickly perked up again. "But losing to Gryffindor isn't that hard for Hufflepuff House to accept. It always happens. Losing to Gryffindor is still better than losing to Slytherin."

"It was only one match. Come on, let's go eat dinner. Stephen has already gone to save us seats."

Fren looked excited too. He had never watched Quidditch before, so he did not care much about winning or losing. As long as the match was exciting, he was happy.

Seeing the ears of the two beside him reddened by the cold, Jon pulled two knitted hats from the pocket of his robes and handed them over.

"Aren't you cold?"

"Wow, why didn't you take out something this good sooner?"

Scaly and Fren grinned as they took the hats and put them on. The three headed toward the castle, and snow had begun drifting down from the sky.

"Oh, right, I think I saw Professor Dumbledore just now."

Scaly said to Jon, "He looked like he was in a hurry. I wonder where he was going."

"I saw him too, and Snape left with him."

Fren nodded from the side. Clearly, both of them found it strange.

For the headmaster and the Slytherin head of house to leave one after the other during such an important Quidditch match was strange in itself.

"Enough guessing. Even if something really happened, it has nothing to do with us."

Jon turned into a castle corridor and finally felt a little warmth.

Although it was still quite cold inside the castle, it was better than outside no matter what, wasn't it?

Besides, because Dumbledore had been in the castle all this time lately, Jon had barely visited Ravenclaw's Study. This was the perfect opportunity.

Night fell.

After casting a Disillusionment Charm on himself, Jon slipped out of the Common Room and pulled out the Marauder's Map from his ring.

Jon had tried to copy this magical map, but Geminio could only produce a piece of parchment. It could not copy any of the magic on it at all—Helga had said that the creation of this map also involved magical contracts and oaths, making it very difficult to replicate.

Forget it. He would keep it and use it for two years first, then find a chance to give the map to Harry later.

Touching the map with his wand, Jon softly said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

An image began to emerge on the map, like a moving navigation map.

Filch was not out on patrol, and no one was in Dumbledore's office. That was good news. Jon held the map and tucked his hand beneath his robes so that no one wandering around at night would see a sheet of paper floating in the air and get frightened.

He pressed the storage pouch against his chest, then headed upstairs.