Stimulant

After returning to the dormitory, Young Wizard Xiwen learned from Ghost Xiwen that a House-Elf would soon bring him food. He forced himself not to fall asleep immediately and sat at the table waiting.

Sure enough, before long, with a loud pop, a little elf with bat-like pointed ears, a large head and eyes, and thin, long arms appeared in the dormitory. He was carrying a tray laden with a sumptuous meal.

"Honored wizard, this is the food the noble Grey Lady instructed me to deliver to you!" he said in a shrill voice.

Xiwen happily took the tray, thanked the little elf with satisfaction, and then began enjoying his belated lunch.

"My goodness, the honored wizard actually thanked me!" the House-Elf cried out in surprise.

The fork in Xiwen's hand froze in midair.

He paused, suddenly realizing that not every elf was like Millie. Because of his persistence, and because she was still young and highly adaptable, she had gradually grown accustomed to Xiwen thanking her.

Serving wizards had become second nature to House-Elves, while wizards considered their service perfectly natural. Very few wizards would ever casually say even a single word of thanks to them.

Xiwen fell silent for a moment, then smiled at the little elf and asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Budi, honored wizard!" House-Elf Budi replied excitedly.

"I see, Budi." Xiwen smiled gently at him. "You've worked hard."

House-Elf Budi bowed in overwhelming excitement, then vanished from Xiwen's dormitory with a pop.

"Xiwen, why did a House-Elf bring you food?" Abraxas seemed to have been sleeping until just now, when the House-Elf's shrill voice woke him. His voice was still somewhat groggy.

"I did someone a small favor earlier. Since mealtime had already passed, she helped me get some food from the dining hall," Xiwen answered casually.

"Mealtime has passed?" Abu sat up, looking as though he had just realized something. "No wonder I'm a little hungry. Forget it, I'll just go have lunch in a bit."

Xiwen's eye twitched as he looked at him. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he said, "Actually, lunchtime has already passed..."

"What?" Abu's eyes flew open, and he was instantly wide awake. "How did I sleep for so long?"

"Who knows?" Xiwen shrugged.

"Did anyone wake up later than me?" Abu asked hopefully.

At that moment, several snores obligingly came from the neighboring bed.

"Good, Mobley got up even later." Abu let out a sigh of relief, as if he had found some comfort.

"You don't wake up this late at home too, do you?" Xiwen asked curiously.

"Of course not. My father is always very strict at home. I can only relax a little after coming to Hogwarts," Abu retorted. "Still, the environment here really is perfect for sleeping."

Xiwen looked around the Slytherin dormitory, which remained somewhat dim even at noon, and nodded in agreement.

"There's still a sandwich here that I can't finish. You can have it." Seeing how hungry Abraxas was, Xiwen pointed at the sandwich on the tray.

"So why do you get steak while I get a sandwich?" Abraxas asked indignantly.

"This was my lunch to begin with. It's good enough that I'm letting you have some," Xiwen said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, greasy food isn't good for your stomach right after waking up."

Abu nodded resignedly, grabbed the sandwich, and casually took a cup of pudding beside it. Then he said, "Fine, but I'm taking this pudding too!"

Xiwen curled his lip and ignored him, quickly finishing the rest of his meal.

Then, exhausted, he lay down on his bed, pulled the covers over himself, and said to Abu, "When Mobley wakes up or Gomez comes back, tell them to keep it down. I'm too sleepy. I need to sleep for a while."

Abu made a gesture while chewing his sandwich, indicating that it would not be a problem.

Xiwen did not even have time to see the gesture before falling into a deep sleep.

This bout of magical exhaustion had been rather severe. Xiwen slept until dinnertime before barely managing to wake up.

"You're awake?" Abraxas, who was playing Wizard's Chess with Mobley, casually asked when he saw Xiwen sit up. "Even counting your nap, it feels like you haven't slept any less than we did."

Mobley also chimed in sympathetically, "Exactly. So there really isn't much difference between us!"

After waking, Xiwen only felt sore all over, with an aching back and splitting headache. He had no energy to deal with them and sat up with a frown.

"Do either of you know whether there's any stimulant in the potion box in the common room?" he asked.

Abu and Mobley shook their heads blankly.

Xiwen had not expected them to be of much help. Rubbing the back of his head, he walked into the common room.

Several communal cauldrons were kept in the Slytherin common room year-round, along with quite a few common potion ingredients provided out of Professor Slughorn's own pocket for Slytherin students to practice brewing potions. After completing a brew, most upper-year students did not take the finished potions away. Instead, they stored them in boxes beside the cauldrons for emergencies.

When Xiwen entered the common room, he happened to see Ignatius sorting potion ingredients.

"Prefect Ignatius, are there any stimulants left here?" he asked.

Ignatius looked at him in surprise and asked, "What's wrong? Did you catch a cold?"

"No." Xiwen shook his head. "I used too much magic earlier, and now I have a bit of a headache."

"Shouldn't you go to the Hospital Wing?" Ignatius took a bottle of stimulant from the box and handed it to Xiwen, asking with concern, "Magical exhaustion is no small matter. You're still young, so you should be more careful."

Xiwen accepted the stimulant, smiled, and nodded. "I'm fine. It's not much of a problem anymore. Thank you, Prefect Ignatius."

He opened the glass bottle and took a gulp.

A puff of steam shot out of Xiwen's ears, making them look like the chimney of the Hogwarts Express locomotive. It was quite bizarre.

Strangely enough, as the steam poured from his ears, the headache seemed to leave his brain along with it. Xiwen instantly felt much better.

"How is it?" Ignatius asked worriedly, looking down at Xiwen's complexion.

"Much better! Thank you, Prefect." Xiwen gratefully thanked Ignatius and returned to the dormitory.

Certain versions of the Safari browser on iPhone may freeze. This site has been optimized for that issue. If it still occurs, try another browser, such as Google Chrome, or switch back to the default font—yes, the font is the cause—and contact us so we can find a way to improve it.

At the request of many readers, we have introduced an ad-free VIP membership feature.

Click to view