Halloween Eve

Compared to life-and-death battles, studying at Hogwarts was always easy and pleasant.

That was why the days seemed to fly by. Before you knew it, time had slipped through your fingers like sand.

Nothing major happened during this time. Like the other students, Glenn studied hard and immersed himself in life at Hogwarts.

While everyone listened closely to Professor Sprout's instructions and carefully tended to the plants, he was studying the Encyclopedia of Dangerous Plants he'd borrowed from the library...

While everyone followed Professor McGonagall's instructions, trying to turn a matchstick into a needle, he was thinking about how to turn a dragon or a Mooncalf into a cat...

While everyone followed Madam Hooch's guidance, climbing onto their broomsticks and slowly flying about, he rode his broom around Hogwarts on a sightseeing tour...

While everyone listened attentively to Professor Quirrell—well, that wasn't really the case. Mostly, it was because the garlic smell was so overpowering.

According to what people said, he'd encountered a vampire before and wanted to use garlic to drive vampires away.

But judging by the results, Glenn thought it was better at driving away students than vampires.

So before every Defense Against the Dark Arts class, students rushed to the classroom to grab seats at a speed that rivaled their rush to the dining hall.

If they arrived late, they could only sit in the front row and enjoy a uniquely up-close lesson from the teacher—assuming they could keep their eyes open against the thick cloud of garlic.

Among all these classes, two were rather special.

They were Flitwick's Charms class and Professor Binns's History of Magic class.

Charms went without saying. As the most practical and fundamental subject for wizards, it was a class Glenn took seriously every time.

If Professor Flitwick taught the Levitation Charm in class, Glenn would show off his impressive skill with it.

If Professor Flitwick taught the Slowing Charm, Glenn would step up as a genius at the spell, applying it in new ways and adding a curse to it.

If Professor Flitwick taught Avada—

Ahem, that was taking things too far. No one at Hogwarts could teach the Dark Magic known as the Unforgivable Curses—not openly, at least.

As for Professor Binns's History of Magic class, what made it special was that, for once, Glenn was truly on the same wavelength as the other students.

"Time to get up?"

"No, class is over."

Amid a chorus of yawns, Professor Binns finished recounting the tale of the greatest wizarding war in history and the most powerful Dark wizard of all time: Merlin's duel with Morgana.

Glenn rubbed his sleepy eyes and wondered yet again how Professor Binns could make such a legendary, epic lesson so incredibly dull.

"If the school hired a few more ghost professors, they'd really improve the students' sleep quality," Blaise said, fighting back a yawn.

"I'm sure they've considered it, right, Malfoy?" Glenn asked casually, glancing at Malfoy beside him.

At that, Malfoy furrowed his brow and looked at him suspiciously.

As the son of a Board of Governors member, he often heard secrets about Hogwarts from his father, which he called "inside information." But he'd never heard anything about this!

"How do you know that?"

Glenn just smiled and didn't answer.

Anyone who'd seen Britain a hundred years ago wouldn't have asked that.

"Where are you going?"

"Just wandering around."

The other Slytherins weren't surprised.

After all, Glenn Howard's habit of wandering around the different Houses had become common knowledge among Hogwarts' first-years.

Contrary to what one might expect, this Slytherin wasn't unpopular like his older Housemates. In fact, he had a good reputation among the other Houses, too.

Harry from Gryffindor, Anthony from Ravenclaw, Ernie from Hufflepuff... They were all happy to spend time with him.

Given Slytherin's poor reputation after Voldemort had wreaked havoc there, this kind of close association with the other Houses wasn't exactly popular among Slytherins. They looked down on every House but their own.

But Glenn was an exception.

If anyone asked why, it was because he was simply too formidable.

Everyone knew that if you wanted to bully someone, you had to find a weakness.

But in these few short months, they hadn't just failed to find any so-called weakness; they'd even started to wonder whether such a thing existed.

Whether in class, in his studies after class, or in his everyday interactions, he seemed almost flawless.

Even the professors were very pleased with him. When the Heads of the other Houses chatted, they sometimes expressed a certain regret that Glenn wasn't in their House.

Professor Snape never showed it on his face, but he often spent extra time with Glenn during Potions class, too.

Whenever that happened, Harry felt a little relieved, because it meant the loathsome Professor Snape wouldn't come over to him for the time being and mutter, "Ten points from Gryffindor."

And besides his abilities, Glenn's personal charm was enough to make students who tried to pick on him nearly get drawn into his orbit themselves.

Imagine it: late at night, alone in the common room, trying to finish your homework, feeling anxious and lonely.

Then a steaming cup of coffee and a notebook full of notes are held out to you. You look up and see a pair of smiling gray eyes...

Honestly, that was really hard to refuse.

The details might have been a little exaggerated, but overall, after spending these past few months together, the Slytherin first-years truly found it hard to feel any hostility toward Glenn.

And for Glenn's sake, the Slytherins in his year had also become more restrained. At least, they hadn't shown the other Houses the naked hostility that earlier years had.

As a result, aside from Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe, who kept relentlessly picking on Harry, this year's Slytherins were gradually regaining their good reputation.

With Slytherin and the other Houses at odds for so many years, that was a rare step forward.

As the person at the center of it all, Glenn didn't think it was anything remarkable.

People talked about changing the stubborn beliefs of Pure-blood advocates, but he didn't think ten-year-old children could be all that attached to blood status. They were simply imitating their parents or other elders.

All he did was take a calm approach and do the little things he could in his everyday life.

Discrimination truly arose from the divisions caused by a lack of understanding.

Once they got closer, they'd soon realize that blood status was nothing more than a label.

Did being Pure-blood mean you wouldn't get sleepy in Professor Binns's class?

As he walked into the corridor, the smell of roasted pumpkin drifted over on the breeze.

It was Halloween Eve. There was supposed to be a Halloween feast that evening.

Glenn thought that, if all went well, given how things had been going with the Hufflepuff first-years over the past few months, he'd soon be able to get the location of the Kitchen from them...

Just then, someone bumped into his shoulder.

"Sorry..." came a slightly hoarse voice from beside him.

Looking past the disheveled hair, he saw Hermione, her eyes a little swollen and red.

With her head lowered, she hadn't noticed who she'd bumped into. After hurriedly apologizing, she started to leave.

Glenn thought for a moment, then called after Hermione as she hurried down the stairs.

"There's no need to apologize. Actually, I've lost track of a book. Would you help me look for it?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Hermione stopped on the stairs.

Tears trickled down her cheeks.