The Missing Damon

After two consecutive Potions Classes, Damon welcomed his first weekend at Hogwarts.

He had made up his mind to spend all his time in the Room of Requirement, improving himself through intense, uninterrupted Charms practice.

Although spells often seemed entirely dependent on willpower, Damon still believed that diligent practice brought strength. Besides, he had exceptional talent; almost every day after training, he could feel noticeable changes.

To avoid constantly coming and going and breaking his rhythm, he went to the House-elves' kitchen and brought some dry bread, jam, and milk. He also specifically told Neville that he had something to do on Saturday night and would not be returning to the dormitory, so Harry, Ron, and the others should not make a fuss or worry.

There was a reason he had chosen to tell Neville. Neville was mild-tempered and could best fulfill his request.

Damon did not like forcing others.

At the moment, Hermione was carrying out her grand plan to devour every book in the library. She would not have time to spare until after Christmas to serve as Harry and Ron's adviser.

The current Hermione had no excess energy to pay attention to anything else.

In fact, she was rather similar to Damon in that regard. Damon's goal, however, was to become strong enough to protect himself before Voldemort and Dumbledore as quickly as possible, then slowly surpass them.

As for Ron and Harry, the two of them were unbelievably carefree. All day long, they only wandered around the castle, chatted with other young wizards, or played wizard chess in the Common Room, fully indulging their childish natures.

If he told them now, "Oh, I found a good place to practice Charms. Do you want to come practice with me? The kind where we train for several hours at a time."

Perhaps they would do the same for Damon's sake, but he did not want that, nor did he think much of it.

Though he sympathized with Harry's circumstances, that did not mean he would push Harry forward. Ron was even less deserving of that.

Only when the two of them genuinely wanted to change and work hard would Damon share this secret with them.

Thus, Ron and Harry suddenly discovered that Damon had vanished after the brief holiday began.

From after lunch on Friday until before dinner on Sunday, they did not see Damon once.

Not inside the castle, not outside it, not at the Black Lake, nor in the library.

They even went looking for him specifically. Harry had been invited by Hagrid to visit his hut and had wanted to bring Damon along, but unfortunately, he could not find him.

Inside Hagrid's hut, Harry discovered a small scrap of paper tucked beneath the tea cozy. It was a clipping from the Daily Prophet, a report about the Gringotts robbery. Harry instinctively felt that something was off, but when he raised the question, Hagrid brushed it aside with vague answers.

That night, the two discovered that Damon had still not returned after curfew and became a little worried. At that moment, Neville, whom Damon had informed beforehand, explained the situation, causing Ron to cry out:

"What on earth is Damon doing? He's even willing to break the rules and go on a Night Patrol?"

Harry was equally surprised, yet at the same time, he felt a faint sense of longing.

The four young wizards stayed up late that night, making all sorts of guesses about where Damon had gone, but they could not make heads or tails of it.

The next day, the young wizards slept until the sun was high in the sky before finally getting up, only to find that Damon still had not returned.

While Hermione was in the Common Room, Harry told her about it. Her expression was clearly somewhat startled.

"He went on a Night Patrol? And he did not return all night?"

She looked extremely surprised. After all, in her impression, Damon was not the sort of person to act so rashly.

Although she was still angry with Harry and Ron, she could not help asking:

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. In fact, he hasn't come back all day, and we still can't find him. But—Neville said Damon told him about it before leaving and told us not to worry."

Upon hearing this, Hermione's furrowed brow relaxed slightly. Hugging her books to her chest, she stood and said to Harry:

"Damon is a steady person. Since he said that, he must be doing something important.

Perhaps he went to Professor McGonagall's office to study Transfiguration. Aren't Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both quite optimistic about him? Perhaps they have other arrangements for Damon. You and I need not worry either."

"As for you." Hermione paused.

"Me?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yes, you, Harry. I haven't seen you do even a single piece of homework all week. It's already Saturday. Are you still going to keep wasting your time on pointless, boring things?

Let me warn you in advance: Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration essay is not so easy to finish."

Harry grew a little nervous at her words and stammered:

"I—I was planning to do it today."

"Really? Well, I have no intention of forcing you."

Hermione lifted her chin, hugged her books, and headed straight for the library.

Ron, who had not said a word the entire time, only spoke after Hermione had left:

"The way she spoke almost made me think Mum was scolding a disobedient child."

"Don't say that, Ron. I think Hermione is right. We should do our homework too."

"Even though it's only Saturday—but finishing early isn't a bad thing."

The two exchanged smiles, their attitudes relaxed.

But it was not until six hours later, at dinner, that they realized how naive they had been.

Over the entire six hours, they only completed three Herbology essays. They had not learned the material particularly well in class to begin with, and when it came to doing homework, their attitudes had been far too casual.

When they thought of the five essays of no less than six inches each still awaiting them, along with Professor McGonagall's outrageous two-foot Transfiguration assignment, both their expressions immediately turned grim.

"Are we going to have to stay up tonight doing homework?"

Hearing Ron's cry, Harry pressed his lips together. Thinking of the possibility Ron had described, his mood grew heavy.

Seeing Harry's expression, Ron clearly understood what he meant and stammered:

"Oh no, not finishing our homework in the first week of school. If my mum finds out—no, it's not over yet!" Ron looked at Harry. "We can borrow someone else's! Neville, Seamus, they must have finished theirs, right?"

"You mean—copy someone else's?"

"Relax, mate. It's only for reference. Just treat this as the last time. We were too careless this time and misjudged how difficult the homework would be. Once we get through this hurdle, we'll do it ourselves, won't we?"

"Y-Yes, you're right!"

Harry nodded firmly. The two quickly found Neville and Seamus, only for their expressions to become even more colorful.

"You haven't finished either?"