Friends with Wolves

Lynn and Cedric sat there until nearly midnight before sneaking back to the castle.

Their luck was fairly good. The trip went smoothly, and Filch, that old pervert, did not catch them and drag them off to his office.

After returning to the dormitory, Lynn did not rest immediately. He had already agreed with Cedric to push tomorrow morning's spell practice back by three hours.

Although tomorrow was Sunday, that was precisely why there would not be many young wizards at Hogwarts.

Nearly all the upper-year students would be off having fun in Hogsmeade, while most of the lower-year students would still be curled up in their warm beds at eight o'clock.

Lynn adjusted the light from the desk lamp, then opened the book Professor Foxx had given him that day—Advanced Dark Magic: An Exploration.

According to the professor, the book did not contain much spell instruction. It mostly offered relatively simple explanations of the principles, effects, and applications of certain Dark Arts.

The book was not considered restricted. It was more like a textbook used in upper-year Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, teaching young wizards how to identify all kinds of Dark Arts. Only after recognizing them could they deal with them.

Lynn did not read too late. He merely skimmed through the book before turning off the light and going to sleep.

The next day.

They were still by the Black Lake.

Cedric waved his wand, testing his Petrificus Totalus on a frog as he brought up what had happened the night before.

"I thought about it all night, but I still can't understand why there are werewolves who retain their sanity after transforming. Or rather, can someone like Ian still be called a werewolf?"

The instant Cedric cast Petrificus Totalus, Lynn flicked his wand and countered it with Finite Incantatem, ending the spell.

Cedric had taught him that spell. It was quite difficult, and Lynn had taken three days to master it completely.

"Are you planning to become a werewolf research expert someday?"

"Of course not." Cedric shook his head.

"Then why do you care whether he keeps his sanity after transforming? The fact that he could stay rational was fantastic news for us last night, wasn't it? Otherwise, in that cramped passageway, we would have been finished. Being bitten and turned into werewolves would have been lucky. The most likely outcome would have been getting bitten to death on the spot."

After hearing Lynn's words, Cedric recalled the scene from the night before and suddenly shuddered.

"Actually, we could spend more time with Ian in the future." Lynn spun his wand around his fingertips, leaving a string of brilliant silver trails in the air.

Cedric agreed with that.

"You can tell he's actually very lonely. To hide the fact that he's a werewolf, he has to keep his distance from everyone around him. Even if he knows he won't hurt anyone after transforming, nobody else would believe him."

"And we just happen to know his secret." Lynn spread his hands. "Do you mind that he's a werewolf? Are you afraid he'll bite you?"

Cedric decisively shook his head. "Of course not. If he had wanted to, he wouldn't have let us go yesterday."

"So he's pretty pitiful too. I noticed that at Ravenclaw, he always seemed to be alone. Even during meals, no one sat beside him."

Lynn stroked his chin. "Hogwarts doesn't seem to have a rule saying that students from each House must eat at their own House table, does it?"

Cedric answered firmly, "Of course there's no such rule."

"Mm, that's good."

Ian felt as though he might have been struck by some inexplicable curse.

Ever since coming to Hogwarts, he had not found the slightest clue about the thing he was searching for.

Last night, he had even misjudged the timing of his transformation, causing it to begin while he was still inside Hogwarts.

To make matters worse, the entire transformation had been witnessed by two young wizards.

Especially since one of them was a Slytherin boy whose mind was not quite right. He did not know how to talk to people, yet insisted on forcing awkward conversation, giving Ian goosebumps all over despite being a werewolf.

And that was not even the worst part. The worse part was that these two young wizards seemed determined to cling to him!

Ian sat uneasily with a silver fork in hand, weighing whether he should stab Lynn to death with it as Lynn sat beside him, wearing a besotted grin.

Lynn did not see it that way. He thought his smile was exceedingly friendly. Ian would surely feel his sincerity, then burst into tears and declare that Lynn was his lifelong best friend. Finally, the system would issue him a reward and set him upon the path of a true wizard.

Whenever he thought of that, he could not help smiling even more warmly.

Cedric, sitting beside him, found it deeply embarrassing and tugged on Lynn's robe.

"Watch yourself. You're practically drooling."

Lynn's old face reddened. He instinctively touched the corner of his mouth, only to find nothing there.

That immediately enraged him. He grabbed Cedric by the neck with both hands and began shaking him wildly.

"Fine! You actually dared to trick me!"

Cedric felt as if Lynn was about to shake his brains out, but luckily Ian spoke up and saved him at that moment.

"Why did you come to eat at the Ravenclaw table?"

The friendly smile returned to Lynn's face, as though he had not just assaulted someone.

"Who says students from each House have to eat together? Hogwarts is made up of four Houses; it isn't Hogwarts divided into four Houses. The more different our Houses are, the more we should communicate with one another."

He spoke with lofty righteousness, but Ian clearly was not buying it and replied coldly.

"Then why are you sitting beside me?"

Having grown used to being rebuffed by Ian, Lynn did not take his words to heart anymore.

"Isn't it obvious? We want to be friends with you."

Ian refused just as decisively.

"Sorry, I don't need any."

Lynn had already prepared himself to stick to him like chewing gum.

"Don't be like that. No one can live in this world without friends. Besides, don't you keep your distance from others because you're afraid your secret will be discovered? You can absolutely trust Cedric and me. We won't think differently of you because of what you are."

Then he lowered his voice.

"We can even cover for you. Whenever there's a full moon, you disappearing alone will always make people suspicious. But with us, you'll have an excuse."

Lynn was not very good at taking the initiative to make friends, but he was good at grasping what other people wanted.

Just like now, he had given Ian an excuse to keep spending time with them.

"What excuse?" Ian asked.

"The next time you transform, you can tell your roommates that you're going out with us to sneak around Hogwarts at night." Lynn said with a smile. "The young wizards of Hogwarts all yearn to roam Hogwarts at night."