Argument

Christmas break passed quickly.

Hogwarts became lively again. After the light snow at Christmas, the weather grew colder and colder, and over the past two days, it had even begun snowing heavily.

At lunchtime, in the warm Great Hall, the three of them were having an intense debate about spells at the Ravenclaw table.

"Green sparks and red sparks fall within the scope of spells, and they are inextricably linked to wand Lumos. Therefore, these two spells should be regarded as branches of wand Lumos." Cedric spoke confidently.

But Lynn had a different opinion.

"I agree with what you said earlier. These two kinds of sparks are indeed simple, but they are still spells, and they are indeed related to wand Lumos. But they cannot be called branches of wand Lumos. They should belong to a category under the Summoning Charm."

Cedric frowned. "Summoning Charm? What is the primary criterion for distinguishing a Summoning Charm? The effect or object produced by the spell already exists; a Summoning Charm is like a transfer station. So where did the green and red sparks originally exist?"

Lynn said seriously, "Nature has always concealed countless elements, and there are too many things that can produce sparks to count. As for changing their color, for a wizard with magic, that is as easy as picking up a cup and drinking water. The key is that after these sparks are released, they rise into the air. And they are not merely light—they are sparks that can burst apart. That is fundamentally different from wand Lumos."

Cedric still could not accept Lynn's theory. They both turned to Ian, who had not spoken the entire time.

"What do you think?"

Ian was as concise as ever.

"I agree more with Lynn."

Cedric was thoroughly confused. "Why?"

"Because I studied natural science too."

Cedric did not understand what he meant, but Lynn refuted him.

"What I said does not really count as natural science. The core of natural science is using dialectics to approach every question. I merely made a conjecture. To verify it, we still need to conduct experiments."

"There will be a chance." Ian slowly cut the steak on his plate with his knife and fork. From the look of it, he had received plenty of education in that regard since childhood.

While they were discussing it, an argument suddenly broke out at the Slytherin table.

People from the other Houses all turned to look.

The two arguing were Slytherin's prefects: the female prefect Betty and the male prefect Raphael.

They looked genuinely furious, arguing until their faces were red. In the end, they parted on bad terms.

Cedric asked quietly.

"I remember they were dating, weren't they?"

Lynn knew about that. He nodded. "I heard they started going out in their fourth year. It has been almost two years by now, right?"

Cedric sighed and shook his head. "They really looked angry. They did not give each other any face at all, arguing in front of so many people. Really... sigh."

Ian spoke blandly.

"You want to be the third party?"

Cedric immediately panicked and waved his hands frantically.

"Don't talk nonsense! I have never had that idea!"

"Then why are you worrying about it?"

Lynn laughed until his stomach hurt. Ian's tongue was vicious, and Cedric had suffered plenty of setbacks because of it.

That night, the three of them gathered by the Whomping Willow beside the Black Lake under cover of darkness.

The Whomping Willow, which usually waved its branches as though warning all living beings to stay away, was now as quiet as an ordinary willow tree.

Ian looked expressionlessly at Lynn and Cedric.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?"

Lynn shrugged. "We are already here. If we go back now, are we supposed to wait for Filch to catch us?"

Cedric patted Ian on the shoulder as well.

"It's fine, Ian. Besides, it would be too lonely to leave you alone in that place all night. Tomorrow is the weekend anyway, so we have nothing to do."

Seeing that they insisted, Ian said nothing more. He took the lead into the passage, with Lynn and Cedric following behind him.

"Come to think of it, this is really strange. Last time, we came here to avoid Ian. This time, we are voluntarily following him."

Cedric said with some emotion.

"Back then, you were even going to heroically volunteer yourself to die." The familiar scene reminded Lynn of the time Cedric had tried to act tough.

The passage was not short. They walked for about half an hour before reaching the exit.

It was a dilapidated house. The three of them climbed out from the underground storage room, their feet landing on rotten floorboards that let out a strange creak.

"Lumos."

Cedric used wand Lumos, lighting up the area around them.

They left the storage room. Dust floated everywhere as they moved, and Lynn could not help covering his nose with his sleeve.

"You used to stay here alone?"

"What else?"

Ian was already accustomed to the place. Clearly, this was not just his first or second visit.

They arrived in the living room of the Shrieking Shack. Ian found a clean spot and sat down, quietly waiting for the transformation to begin.

Lynn and Cedric sat not far away from him.

Before long, Ian suddenly collapsed onto the floor, a pained groan escaping his throat.

The process of a werewolf's transformation was exceptionally painful. Even Ian, a special werewolf who could retain his reason after transforming, was no exception.

But the transformation did not take long. With a chilling roar, Ian completely changed from human to werewolf.

This time, Lynn and Cedric naturally did not run away. Instead, they stood up and observed Ian's changes from close by.

"Can you still use magic in this state?"

Lynn asked curiously.

Ian panted heavily and shook his head.

"I tried, but the magic inside my body feels as though it has been sealed by some invisible force. It cannot come out."

Lynn suddenly had an idea. He found a thick wooden board from somewhere and started with Cedric.

"Come on. Punch this board with all your strength."

Cedric was an honest sort. Since Lynn told him to use all his strength, he did. The board was completely unharmed, while he clutched his fist and sucked in breaths of pain.

Then Lynn punched the board with all his strength as well. The board remained intact, but from the sound alone, his punch was clearly many times stronger than Cedric's.

"Your turn."

Lynn held the board flat before him and gestured to Ian.

Ian understood what he was thinking. He did not hold back, throwing a straight punch at the board.

"Crack!"

The board snapped cleanly in two. Lynn was thrown backward by the tremendous force, landing on the floor and sliding several meters back.