I'm Being Targeted

"Are you okay?"

Ian stepped forward and pulled Lynn up from the ground.

Lynn dusted off his backside and waved to show he was fine.

His eyes gleamed. Completely unfazed by the thick fur covering Ian's body, he threw an arm around his shoulders.

Ian broke out in goosebumps all over under that stare.

"What are you doing?"

"Ian, would you say we're friends?" Lynn asked sincerely.

Ian hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded reluctantly. "I suppose."

"You're lying!"

"How am I lying?"

Lynn merely looked at him resentfully, unable to explain why.

He couldn't exactly say that the system hadn't judged his quest complete, so he thought Ian was lying.

With just that simple test, Lynn could see the gap between his current constitution and Ian's after transforming into a werewolf.

After the constitution attribute had been unlocked, he had started with 2 attribute points. Adding the 1 point from the side quest reward, he now had 3 in total.

Lynn guessed that 3 points of constitution was roughly equivalent to the physical condition of an ordinary adult, while lower-year Hogwarts students probably only had 1 point, like Cedric.

After Ian transformed into a werewolf, his constitution was at least 5 points!

That was Lynn's conservative estimate, and Ian wasn't even an adult yet.

An adult werewolf's physical abilities would definitely be even more formidable.

Of course, werewolves had their own limitations.

Ordinary werewolves completely lost their conscious awareness after transforming, and even someone like Ian couldn't use magic once he became a werewolf.

But the system's attribute points had no such flaw.

If he could obtain the second-stage quest reward, he would gain a constitution just as powerful as Ian's werewolf form without any restriction on using magic.

Such an improvement would be enormous for any wizard.

And if constitution points could be maxed out...

Lynn was already imagining himself turning into a human tank, charging straight through countless beams of spells.

The more he thought about it, the more Lynn couldn't help staring at Ian with bright, eager eyes again.

Ian's skin crawled under his gaze, and he instinctively moved farther away from him.

A month after Christmas ended.

In the Slytherin common room, Lynn looked on with a headache as Betty, who had just had a fight with her boyfriend, sat beside him and poured out her grievances.

"He had an ambiguous relationship with Angela from fifth year before. I even saw her kiss him on the cheek once! He explained that Angela was only thanking him for helping her and that there was nothing else between them. I believed everything he said.

But now, just because my brother married a Muggle, he wants me to cut ties with my family..."

Lynn was really in a difficult position. He had no desire whatsoever to get involved in the love-hate drama between two Slytherin prefects, but leaving now would be awkward too. He could only reluctantly play the role of a sympathetic big sister.

"So he's looking down on your brother for marrying a Muggle wife?"

"Not just that." Betty, usually strong and capable, actually had reddened eyes now, as if she were about to cry.

"He also resents my brother for not marrying his cousin. Our families had already arranged an engagement, but my brother..."

What kind of melodramatic family soap opera is this?! Is your sister-in-law about to start a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law feud with your mother? Then pregnancy, abortion, divorce, and finally years of lingering, tangled feelings?

Lynn ranted wildly in his heart, but comforted her aloud.

"It's a good thing that your brother found true love. Williamson will understand."

Lynn knew his attempt at comfort was rather weak, but he truly had nothing else to say.

"He won't. He can't understand. His family is an unbearably old-fashioned pure-blood family. Don't think he has no prejudice against you just because he acts polite around you. He's only maintaining his manners. More than once, he's told me to stay away from you."

How did this get dragged back to me again?

Lynn was utterly baffled. He felt uncomfortable all over and increasingly convinced that he should not stay here any longer, so he made an excuse.

"Senior, I just remembered that I haven't finished my Transfiguration class homework. I have Transfiguration class this afternoon, so I need to go back and finish it. Sorry, I can't stay and talk with you any longer."

His excuse was perfectly reasonable, and Betty didn't try to stop him. She only asked softly.

"Are you free tonight? I'm in a bad mood. Can you take a walk with me by the Black Lake?"

Lynn got goosebumps all over. He hurriedly waved his hands.

"Sorry, Senior, Cedric asked me... asked me to go fishing tonight! Yes! Fishing! So I can't. We arranged it beforehand. I really don't have time. I'm so sorry. Goodbye, Senior!"

Lynn fled from the Slytherin common room as if he were running for his life.

Lynn actually didn't care at all about Betty saying that Raphael had been speaking badly of him behind his back.

He had never expected every young wizard in Slytherin to like him. It was enough to maintain surface-level harmony and leave each other alone. There was no reason or need to take things any further.

What horrified Lynn was the meaning behind Betty's words just now.

Though he had been single in both lives, he might not have eaten pork, but he had certainly seen pigs run! All those romance dramas he watched when he had nothing to do hadn't been for nothing.

Everything Betty said carried the same message—there was no chance between Raphael and her anymore, so something could happen between them.

Lynn's face went pale with fright. He couldn't understand what she was thinking.

He was only twelve by nominal age this year!

Betty was in seventh year and nearly seventeen.

There was a full five-year gap between them. Although Lynn usually acted somewhat mature, he still looked very young.

Did this count as liking minors?

Lynn's mind was in complete chaos. Of course, he didn't go to the library to finish any imaginary homework. Instead, he found Cedric and Ian and arranged for them to go fishing at the Black Lake that night.

"Are you crazy?"

Cedric touched Lynn's forehead, and Lynn slapped his hand away.

"Don't curse me."

"If you're not crazy, why would you go fishing at the Black Lake? The only thing you can fish up there is the fisherman."

"I don't care. Even if we're fishing for fishermen, you have to come with me tonight."

Ian had Astronomy class that night and couldn't join their nonsense. By dusk, only Cedric was with Lynn by the Black Lake, putting bait on their hooks.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Cedric complained as he threaded beef he had secretly taken from dinner onto his fishing hook.

Their actions were impossible to ignore. A group of idle young wizards gathered at a distance to watch, seemingly expecting them to catch something.

Lynn had already cast his hook into the lake. He hadn't put any bait on it, because he hadn't come here to fish in the first place.

He tilted his head toward Cedric and said cautiously.

"I think an old cow has set her sights on me."