Shock Bomb

On Halloween morning, bright and early.

When Gemini appeared in the corridor, he caught a rich scent of roasted pumpkin.

Just as Christmas always called for turkey and the Spring Festival always called for dumplings, in Britain, roasted pumpkin and Halloween were the perfect match.

Gemini guessed that Lolo and her little companions were probably running around like mad in the Hogwarts kitchens right now.

Halloween was no ordinary holiday. To wizards, it was a major celebration; to the ghosts in the castle, it was an even bigger one!

No one was more excited than the ghosts darting all over the corridors!

In Charms class, when Gemini made a feather levitate with his bare hand, Professor Flitwick generously awarded Slytherin ten points.

This was their first time learning the Levitation Charm, but it was not Gemini's first time using it. During the first flying lesson, he had used the spell to save Neville when he fell from high in the air.

And for Gemini now, he could already cast the Levitation Charm without a wand.

What left Gemini most speechless after coming to the Wizarding World was that wandless casting was not some profound technique.

The use of wands had been a revolutionary advancement for wizarding society. That was not just an empty statement.

Gemini had originally thought wandless casting was some highly advanced ability, but after asking Snape about it, he had been viciously mocked:

"A wand is a medium. It can maximize a wizard's magic and reduce unnecessary magical power loss. Without a wand, you can't even cast Lumos. At least seventy percent of spells are unusable."

According to Snape, so-called wandless casting was really just a wizard's primitive control over their own magic, but it was highly limited. That was why even powerful wizards still used wands.

If wandless casting were really that powerful, then with Voldemort's extreme arrogance, he would probably say: The Elder Wand? I don't need a wand!

Of course, wandless casting was not useless. It could train control over one's own magic, or assist with spellcasting. For powerful wizards, it could raise their combat strength to a certain extent.

Sizzle, sizzle—

Sparks flew from the tip of Crabbe's wand and set Goyle's sleeve on fire. Gemini propped up his chin with one hand and flicked his wand with the other, extinguishing the flames.

This class was not only a waste of time, but he also had to stay in the same room as these two idiots...

It really put him in a bad mood.

For Gemini, the only purpose of this class was reminding him that during tonight's feast, a troll would be wandering around the castle dragging a club.

Judging by today's schedule, Gryffindor's Charms class should have ended already. Unless something unexpected had happened, Hermione should be crying her eyes out in the girls' bathroom right now.

He would go bring her out after class. Although according to the normal course of events, she should not be in any danger, that had been the result of luck and coincidence intertwined. Gemini did not dare guarantee that his presence would not cause some butterfly effect.

That would settle the debt of gratitude he owed Mr. Granger for giving him a ride.

At last, Charms class ended.

After running up and down several floors and asking several girls, Gemini confirmed one thing: Hermione was not in the bathroom.

Only then did he realize he had overlooked something—just because Hermione was in the girls' bathroom when it happened did not mean she would spend the entire afternoon in the toilet.

It seemed that if he wanted to find Hermione, he would have to wait until shortly before the feast. But there were still more than two hours to go.

Women were such a hassle...

But as the saying went, if you could not solve the problem, solve the person who raised it.

Hermione was hard to find, but Professor Quirrell was easy enough to locate. The third-years' Defense Against the Dark Arts class had just ended, and he had only just returned to his office. Going by the time, he probably still had a while before he went looking for the troll. There were still plenty of students wandering the corridors at this hour.

Quirrell was currently sitting behind his desk, diligently marking the assignments the students had handed in. Even inside his own office, Quirrell had not shed his disguise.

Although his acting was indeed somewhat clumsy in the eyes of anyone observant, that did not stop him from being intoxicated by it.

Clang!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of breaking glass, a palm-sized iron canister was thrown into the office, startling Quirrell.

He let out a scream. Once the initial shock passed, he determined that it was a prank by some students. To keep the students from discovering his unknown side, Quirrell quickly adjusted his expression and made himself look like a timid teacher who had been frightened.

"My goodness, wh-what is this?" Quirrell suppressed the irritation in his heart and stared tremblingly at the little iron canister thrown at his feet. Using a spell right now would not fit his cowardly, stuttering persona, so he could only maintain this mask of a frightened fool.

Then...

Boom!

With an ear-splitting sonic blast, a dazzling white light flashed inside the office.

"Ah—"

Outside the window, Gemini heard Professor Quirrell's scream...

It was filled with terror, despair, and shock. Gemini could tell that this emotional scream had come entirely from Professor Quirrell's heart.

Shock Bombs were good things. At Quirrell's distance from that Shock Bomb, his ears would not be recovering until at least tomorrow, and his eyes would probably be blurry for a while too.

A real Shock Bomb was not like in games, where it flashed, made a noise, and you could recover just by shaking your head.

Quietly crouching by the window, Gemini peered into the office. Quirrell looked utterly crazed, groping about with both hands as he tried to escape the office.

Pfft!

A muffled impact sounded.

A dungbomb struck the back of Quirrell's turban-wrapped head...

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft—

A dense barrage of dungbombs shot in through the window like machine-gun bullets, splattering Professor Quirrell all over...

"Ah—help! Help me—"

As Professor Quirrell screamed and ran out of the classroom, Gemini also jumped down from the castle wall and vanished behind one of the castle's windows after a few leaps.

He had no intention of letting Quirrell off so easily.

"Elegant and beautiful Moaning Myrtle!"

Gemini found the weeping Myrtle in an empty girls' bathroom.

"Oh~ my dear Fawkes." Myrtle smiled at Gemini's handsome face. "What did you need me for?"

"There's something I wanted to tell you. Professor Quirrell has admired you for a long time, but because of his status, he has never been able to say it. After all, he's still alive."

Gemini spoke gently. "You know, he's always been timid and insecure. He can only hide in a corner by himself and grieve in silence. I thought he was just too pitiful, so I came to tell you."

"Ah~" Myrtle suddenly let out a strange shriek, startling Gemini into taking an involuntary step back.

"My poor Quirrell, so he has admired me all along..." Myrtle's silvery spectral face turned deathly pale. Gemini thought that was probably how ghosts blushed.

"Uh... yes." Gemini nodded. "I bet tonight he'll hide away in some corner and cry again. Please make sure you stay by his side."

"I will!" Myrtle's voice was filled with unwavering resolve.

"Also, please don't tell Professor Quirrell that I was the one who told you. His fragile heart would surely make him feel embarrassed."

"I understand!"

Myrtle turned into a streak of silver light and shot out of the girls' bathroom in a flash.