Lies and Friendship

Allen stopped concerning himself with how the system would handle the diadem containing Voldemort's soul fragment. He quickly left the Room of Requirement; seizing the opportunity to continue exploring Rowena Ravenclaw's statue was the priority.

To avoid alerting the person who had placed the Troll, Allen activated the invisibility function of his Miaomiao Wizard Robe. This decision proved brilliant; no sooner had he slipped out of the Room of Requirement than he saw Professor Quirrell, his face deathly pale, hurrying up from the floor below in a panic.

Could the seemingly cowardly Professor Quirrell be the one who had soaked the Troll in Preservation Potion? Knowing the general plot, Allen had no doubts about this. After all, Voldemort was hiding on the back of Quirrell's head, right beneath that garlic-scented turban! Surely Voldemort's sense of taste hadn't recovered yet? If it had, wouldn't he be surrounded by the smell of garlic every day? One had to wonder if the stench would make him question his very existence.

Lost in these stray thoughts, Allen soon returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room. His fellow Ravenclaws, still caught up in the festivities, had not yet returned. Allen repeated his previous tactic, taking out the diadem purified by the system and placing it upon the curls of Rowena Ravenclaw's statue. The shapes matched perfectly, but the diadem was quickly repelled by a force, sliding off the statue's smooth head, clattering against the chair, and bouncing onto the carpet.

Where had he gone wrong? Allen jumped down and picked up the diadem. It truly didn't look like Ravenclaw's Diadem; the ancient crown lacked even a glimmer of luster. Allen drew his wand and pointed it at the diadem, casting "Reparo"—the diadem didn't change in the slightest; it remained just as dilapidated.

At a total loss, Allen simply cast every relevant spell he could think of, including "Scourgify" and "Revelio," but the diadem remained unchanged. Until—

Allen remembered the Magic Orb of the Goddess of Luck he had obtained before the start of the term. He pulled the orb and the Encyclopedia of Spells from his system storage. Ever since the Lucky Elves had performed the curse-breaking incantation, the Encyclopedia of Spells had automatically added this spell, complete with phonetic guides!

Since Allen was at his wit's end with the diadem anyway, he might as well give it a try; perhaps a miracle would occur!

As Allen delved into the spell, time ticked away. When he heard the sound of students answering questions outside the door, Allen realized with a start that the lakeside masquerade ball for Halloween had ended, and the common room would soon be bustling with activity. To be safe, he decided to pause his research; after all, whether he went or not, the statue would remain right where it was, unable to leave.

Quickly returning the chair to its place, Allen ran back to his dormitory. Soon, the sounds of commotion filled the common room, only to fade and drift away shortly after.

The bedroom door was pushed open with a bang. Edward rushed in, looking excited. Seeing Allen sitting at his desk, he showed no surprise, which struck Allen as rather odd.

"Allen, you're back already? I really don't understand the interests of you top students. Such an interesting party, and you still chose to read." As Edward spoke, he stripped off his sweater, which was covered in cream and butter. Clearly, he had had a wonderful night; the sweater was a testament to how wild he had gone.

After November began, the weather turned bitterly cold. The mountains surrounding the school were gray and covered in ice and snow, and the lake was as cold and hard as quenched steel. Every morning, the ground was covered in frost. From the upstairs windows, one could see Hagrid, wrapped in a long moleskin coat, wearing rabbit-fur gloves and massive beaver-fur boots, de-icing the Flying Broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch.

The Quidditch season was about to begin. Roger was as energetic as if he'd been injected with adrenaline, grabbing Allen and the others for practice whenever he had the chance. Thus, Quidditch training increased from three times a week to five.

The professors did not ease up on their academic requirements just because of the exciting Quidditch season. "A truly excellent wizard can withstand any pressure—any!" Professor Snape declared as he assigned an extra ten inches of parchment for homework.

Compared to his classmates, Allen was clearly much busier. Quidditch training could not be neglected, and in addition to completing the coursework assigned by the professors, he had to wake up early to practice the Basic Body Refining Technique and diligently accumulate books on potions in the library... More importantly, in the hour before sleep, Allen would carefully study the pronunciation and wand movements of the curse-breaking spell used by the Lucky Elves.