Halloween Eve

Compared to life-and-death battles, the time spent studying at Hogwarts was always relaxed and pleasant.

This also meant that each day's sunlight came and went in a hurry, and before you knew it, time slipped through your fingers like sand.

During this period, nothing major happened, and Glen, like the other students, studied hard and immersed himself fully in Hogwarts' school life.

While everyone else was focused on Professor Sprout's instructions, carefully tending to the herbs, he was studying the Encyclopedia of Dangerous Plants borrowed from the library...

While everyone else was following Professor McGonagall's teaching, trying to turn a match into a needle, he was pondering how to turn a dragon or a Mooncalf into a cat...

While everyone else was following Madam Hooch's guidance, riding their broomsticks slowly in free flight, he took his broom for a tour around Hogwarts...

While everyone else was listening attentively to Professor Quirrell—well, not really that one, mainly because the garlic smell was too strong.

According to others, it was because he had encountered a vampire before, so he wanted to use garlic to drive vampires away.

But as for the result, Glen felt it drove away students more effectively than vampires.

So much so that before every Defense Against the Dark Arts class, students would rush to the classroom at a speed comparable to heading to the Great Hall to grab seats.

If you were late, you could only sit in the front row and enjoy a unique one-on-one teaching experience with the professor—provided you could keep your eyes open under that heavy garlic assault.

Among all these various classes, two were particularly special.

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

Charms class went without saying; as the most practical and fundamental subject for wizards, Glen attended every lesson seriously.

If Professor Flitwick taught the Levitation Charm in class, Glen would demonstrate superb Levitation Charm skills.

If Professor Flitwick taught the Slowing Charm in class, Glen would emerge as a prodigy of the Slowing Charm, extrapolating from it and even adding a curse to the charm.

If Professor Flitwick taught Avada...

Cough, that's going too far. Charms class—or rather, at Hogwarts—no one would ever teach that kind of Dark Magic known as the Unforgivable Curses, at least not openly.

As for Professor Binns' History of Magic class, the reason it was special was that during this lesson, Glen would truly sync up with the other students.

"Time to wake up?"

"No, class is over."

Amidst the rising and falling yawns, Professor Binns ended the saga of the greatest wizard in history battling the most powerful Dark wizard—Merlin's duel with Morgana.

Glen rubbed his sleepy eyes and once again marveled at how Professor Binns managed to make such a legendary and epic lesson so unbearably dull.

"If the school hired a few more ghost professors, they'd definitely improve the students' sleep quality," Blaise said, fighting off drowsiness.

"I think they must have considered that, right, Malfoy?" Glen glanced at Malfoy beside him and asked casually.

Hearing this, Malfoy frowned slightly and looked at him suspiciously.

As the son of a Board of Governors member, he often heard some secrets about Hogwarts from his father, calling them "inside information," but he had never mentioned this!

"How do you know that?"

Glen just smiled and didn't answer.

If you had personally seen Britain a hundred years ago, you wouldn't have such doubts.

"Where are you going?"

"Just wandering around."

The other Slytherins weren't surprised by this.

After all, Glen Howard's habit of wandering between the houses had become a well-known fact among the Hogwarts first-years.

Contrary to expectations, this Slytherin wasn't unpopular like his upperclassmen; instead, he had a decent reputation in the other houses too.

Harry from Gryffindor, Anthony from Ravenclaw, Ernie from Hufflepuff... they were all quite willing to associate with him.

Given the rotten atmosphere of Slytherin, which had been tainted by Voldemort, such close interactions with other houses were generally frowned upon by Slytherins—because they looked down on any house other than Slytherin.

But Glen was an exception.

If you asked why, it was because he was too formidable.

As everyone knew, to bully someone, you had to find their weakness.

But in these few short months, not only had they failed to find any so-called weakness, they were even starting to wonder if such a thing as weakness even existed.

Whether in classroom performance, after-class studies, or daily interactions, he was almost flawless.

Even the professors were very satisfied with this student, and when the other heads of houses chatted, they would even express some regret that Glen wasn't in their house.

Professor Snape, though he didn't show it on his face, often spent some time on this student during Potions class.

Whenever that happened, Harry would breathe a little easier, because it meant that the unpleasant Professor Snape wouldn't come over to him and whisper, "Five points from Gryffindor."

And aside from his abilities, Glen's personal charm even made those trying to pick a fight almost lose themselves in the process.

Imagine it: late at night, alone in the common room doing homework, feeling anxious and lonely.

But just then, a steaming cup of coffee is handed over along with a notebook full of notes. You look up and see a pair of gray eyes with a smile...

Honestly, it's really hard to refuse.

Though it might be a bit exaggerated in form, overall, after these few months of getting along, the Slytherin first-years really couldn't muster any hostility toward this classmate.

And for Glenn's sake, this year's Slytherins had also restrained themselves quite a bit, at least not flaunting their naked malice toward the other houses like the previous batches had.

This also meant that aside from Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe, who persistently picked on Harry, the overall reputation of this Slytherin class was showing signs of recovery.

Given the long-standing antagonism between Slytherin and the other houses, this counted as a rare improvement.

As the one involved, Glenn didn't think it was anything remarkable.

Talk about overturning the stubborn notions of blood purists—he didn't believe that kids barely into their teens could be that fixated on bloodlines. They were just mimicking their parents or other elders.

All he'd done was calmly handle some small, everyday tasks within his reach.

What truly bred discrimination was the rift caused by a lack of mutual understanding.

When the distance closed, they'd soon realize that so-called bloodlines were nothing more than a piece of paper.

Could pure blood keep you from dozing off in Professor Binns's class?

Walking down the corridor, the scent of baked pumpkin drifted in on the breeze.

Today was Halloween Eve, and rumor had it there'd be a Halloween feast tonight.

Glenn calculated in his mind—if nothing unexpected happened, based on the progress he'd made over the past few months getting along with the first-year Hufflepuffs, he'd soon be able to get the location of the kitchen out of them...

Just then, his shoulder was bumped.

"Sorry..." A somewhat hoarse voice came from beside him.

Following the messy hair, he saw Hermione with red, swollen eyes.

Because she was looking down, she hadn't noticed who she'd bumped into. After a hurried apology, she was about to leave.

Glenn thought for a moment, then finally called out to Hermione, who was rushing downstairs.

"No need to apologize. Actually, I can't find a book I need. Would you be willing to help me look for it?"

Hearing the somewhat familiar voice, Hermione stopped in her tracks on the stairs.

Tears dripped down.