The Best Decision

Wade returned to the dormitory and found an unexpected visitor there—a House-elf wearing a tea towel stood in the middle of the room, staring at him unblinkingly with her huge gray-green eyes. She gave him quite a fright.

Wade nearly flung a spell at her. Only after seeing who it was did he relax. "Zoe? Why are you here?"

House-elves generally took pride in never appearing before their masters. Apart from the kitchen, Wade had never seen one of the school's House-elves anywhere else.

Zoe twisted her long, slender fingers, clearly ill at ease. In a tiny voice, she said, "Wade Grey did not eat dinner, and Zoe was worried. Zoe knew she should not appear, but Zoe came anyway. Zoe wanted to know if Wade Grey was feeling unwell."

"I'm fine." Wade crouched halfway down and said, "The troll just smelled too awful. I don't have much of an appetite right now."

Zoe said earnestly, "But not eating is bad for Wade Grey's health. Wade Grey gave Zoe a gift, and Zoe likes it very much. Zoe cares about Wade Grey's health too, and does not want him to go hungry."

House-elves spoke in an interesting way. Whether referring to themselves or others, even face-to-face, they always spoke in the third person.

Wade looked at Zoe. A tiny Pumpkin Carriage still hung from her waist, the light inside its lantern flickering.

"Fine." He sighed. "Could you bring me some fruit? Don't turn it into jam or pudding—just fresh fruit. I'll have some after my bath, then go to sleep."

"At once, sir!" Zoe nodded happily and vanished from the room with a pop.

When Wade came out of the bathroom, still covered in steam and moisture, he saw a basket of fruit on the table—apples, pears, bananas, several strawberries, and a bunch of bright green grapes. Everything had been washed clean, with droplets of water still clinging to it.

Wade picked up an apple and took a bite. It was plump and juicy, and he felt deeply moved.

In his previous life, his mother had insisted on healthy living. She believed that people needed to eat twelve kinds of food every day to provide their bodies with sufficient nutrition, with vegetables and fruit being especially important. Sometimes, she could go a whole month without repeating a meal.

After being reborn, although the food at Hogwarts was far more abundant than what he had eaten at home, most of it was roast meat and desserts. There were few kinds of vegetables, the cooking methods were monotonous, and fresh fruit had never once appeared on the long tables.

At that moment, Wade made up his mind: after graduating, he wanted to visit the East—magic was the wings of miracles, but the future lay in the East.

Besides, this world had mysterious powers there as well. Perhaps he would get to see even more wondrous sights.

Padma's joining SSC went very smoothly. No one objected. After all, she was not only intelligent and generous, but also very beautiful. Her deep-set eyes seemed naturally affectionate, making Theo and the others blush without realizing it.

Hermione, meanwhile, devoted more and more time to studying, because Wade put her under immense pressure. In their most recent Transfiguration Class, Wade had successfully turned a mouse into a beautiful little teapot. Its lines were so refined that it looked like a piece of craftsmanship freshly placed on a shelf. Professor McGonagall loudly praised Wade's Transfiguration and said that, at his current level, he could earn an "O" on the final exam.

At the same time, Hermione knew that Wade's owl had brought him a complete set of the Standard Book of Spells and Intermediate Transfiguration from Diagon Alley. So although Hermione was already one of the best first-year students in Gryffindor, she still felt that she was falling behind. She studied herself into a foul temper every day and snapped at Ron several times. Ever since she had knocked out the troll, Ron had stopped nitpicking her and no longer whispered complaints behind her back.

Now Ron actually hoped Hermione would give him some pointers, because he had realized that everything she said was right. But Hermione had finally corrected some of her habit of lecturing others. She tried to turn a blind eye to the Gryffindors' various violations of school rules, and her popularity in the House improved slightly as a result. Especially with Harry—they could more or less be considered friends now.

Wade heard Hermione complain almost every day: "They have an entire weekend to do their homework, yet they only write the title! Then when it's time to hand it in, they finally panic and say—Hermione, please, let me copy your homework!"

"And did you let them copy?" Wade asked as he wrote.

"Of course not!" Hermione wrinkled her nose and said disdainfully, "What good does copying homework do? But I promised I'd help check it after they finish writing it!"

"But Hermione—" Padma asked in confusion, "doesn't that make even more work for you?"

Hermione looked at her as though she could not believe the question. "That's how they learn!"

The two girls looked at each other. After a moment, they silently skipped over the subject.

By the time Padma finished her homework, only Neville was still working hard with his pen between his teeth. She stuffed her parchment into her schoolbag and briskly walked around the partition wall. To keep those practicing Spells from disturbing the students doing homework, Wade had recently added a sky-blue partition wall to the Umbrella Room. It divided the room into two sections at a one-to-three ratio, with a Silencing Charm placed between them.

On the other side, two rows of Targets stood in the classroom. Most were badly worn, damaged beyond what even a Repairing Charm could save, but they were still usable. Mirrors covered the entire wall at the far end. Wade said they made it easier for everyone to correct their movements at any time.

Michael repeatedly used Incendio to set a target ablaze, then extinguished it with Aguamenti. Theo took turns tormenting his target with Diffindo and Reparo. Hermione was using the dancing spell on a Spider, whose long legs thrashed wildly through the air.

Ryan pointed his Wand at a gray mouse poking its head around in front of him. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The mouse's body suddenly stiffened, with only its tail twitching slightly. A moment later, it shot forward and transformed into a small piece of branch in midair with a bang.

"For the Petrificus Totalus, when drawing the circle, use your wrist as the center. At the turn, make it sharp and quick."

Wade flicked his Wand, and the branch floated in the air. He tapped it with the tip of his Wand, and it turned back into a mouse.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Wade demonstrated once. In an instant, the mouse's claws and tail pressed tightly against its body, rigid as a board. Even its pitch-black eyes seemed to show terror.

It fell to the floor with a bang, completely like a stone.

Wade lifted the spell and let Ryan continue practicing, then walked over to Padma and asked, "Would you like to learn Slippery Slope first, or practice other spells?"

"Well..." Padma stuck out her tongue and said embarrassedly, "Actually... even my Repairing Charm only works some of the time..."

She waited for Wade to show the expression of this is a huge problem, but he merely tapped the target beside them with his Wand. The wooden target immediately split down the middle.

Wade said, "Then we'll start with the Repairing Charm. Let me see what level you're at first."

When Padma raised her Wand, even her arm trembled slightly.

She suddenly realized that she might have made the best decision since starting school.

She would definitely learn a great deal here!

"Reparo!"