Year-End Feast

Ron and the others eventually accepted Harry's explanation.

But deep down, they believed that Harry hadn't woken up from his dream—a dream where he was still a Muggle being abused in the Dursley family.

Harry wanted to go back to the Dursley family for a few days, simply to realize that he was no longer an ordinary little boy.

He was a wizard.

As Harry went to greet Lupin, Ron covered his other cheek with his hand and muttered a complaint.

Ginny and Draco nodded repeatedly.

During the remainder of the summer semester, Ron and the others deliberately, without prior arrangement, avoided mentioning that topic again.

They would go to Hagrid's place whenever they had free time.

Hephaestus's ability to absorb heat made Hagrid's Hut feel like it was air-conditioned.

Lavender also made a tentative approach to this seemingly rude big man because of Ron, and found him to be surprisingly kind.

Before we knew it, the End-of-Year Feast was here.

The entire Great Hall was newly decorated in blue and bronze to celebrate Ravenclaw's second consecutive House Cup victory.

On the wall behind the High Table, there was a huge banner depicting Ravenclaw eagle.

Harry sat at Ravenclaw's table, next to Ron and Ginny.

Ryan, Hermione, and Luna sat next to Ginny.

Ron looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. Harry knew exactly what he wanted to say.

The guess is, "Ryan is really amazing, he can take care of two witches at the same time!"

But since his last trip to Moon City, Ron, who knew Ryan's abilities, dared not say anything behind his back anymore.

He was even more cautious than he appeared.

This might explain why Ron, despite his outspokenness, has survived to this day.

He knew how to restrain himself so as not to offend those he could not afford to offend.

At the High Table, where the faculty sat, Dumbledore was talking to Professor McGonagall, who was sitting next to him. It looked like he would be standing up to speak soon.

To be honest, Harry was also looking forward to this speech, and the sooner the better.

Harry noticed that the students around him were staring at him from time to time.

This made him very uncomfortable.

That's why he stayed with Hagrid.

While it's cool where Hagrid is, it's also cool under the shade of the beech trees on the small hillside by the Black Lake, and you can openly watch the witches playing in the Black Lake.

All of this actually stemmed from that match against Dudley, where Harry gave it his all.

Although the magical transformation of various Muggle gadgets has attracted a large number of Quidditch fans.

However, as Quidditch is a global competition, almost all Hogwarts students can still discern a player's skill level.

This time, Harry's performance undoubtedly surpassed almost all the Seeker they had ever seen.

This further fueled Harry's already considerable popularity.

In addition, a few senior girls from Hufflepuff House suddenly unfurled a banner a few days ago, saying things like Krum was the best and Harry Potter was trash.

This drew the attention of a group of students Harry hadn't previously paid attention to Harry.

Let's leave aside for now the witches who are still in the Hospital Wing because of this incident.

These past few days, Harry has been attracting a lot of attention from others in the common room.

Even some witches from other houses came to the Ravenclaw Common Room —they believed they were more worthy of Harry and could be his girlfriends.

Ginny was furious and secretly released some invisible, vicious little bats.

Even more outrageous, Harry was bitten several times.

He is clearly innocent!

This reminded Harry of Ryan; he wished he were like Ryan.

To this end, he even sought out Neville, wanting to learn the magic circle Neville had learned from Ryan to conceal himself.

But Neville refused, saying he needed Ryan's consent.

Ryan's whereabouts have become elusive these past few days.

Harry had to dodge the other students' attacks again.

So it wasn't until now, at the year-end banquet, that he finally saw Ryan in person.

Lost in this mood, after an unknown amount of time, Dumbledore finally stood up. The noise in the Great Hall gradually subsided, and everyone's attention was drawn to Dumbledore.

"Another year has passed," Dumbledore said, looking at everyone. "It's over."

He paused, his gaze falling on the Ravenclaw table.

"Before you enjoy your meal, I must say a few words to dampen your spirits."

"You may have noticed that Ravenclaw is the winner of this year's House Cup —but there's something you haven't noticed." Dumbledore paused, looking down with X-ray vision.

The students unconsciously shrank back, realizing what Dumbledore was about to say.

"The specific scores for each house are as follows: fourth place, Gryffindor, seventeen points; third place, Hufflepuff, thirty-five points; Slytherin, forty-nine points; Ravenclaw, one hundred and eight points." Surprisingly, the Ravenclaw table did not get excited about this, and like the students at the other tables, they lowered their heads.

"Some of you might say that this has little to do with you, that it's all because of Filch, who is now more powerful than before." Dumbledore looked at Filch, Filch proudly puffed out his chest.

"But after being penalized multiple times, what you should do is not foolishly go out at night like everyone else. That's not courage, that's recklessness."

"I am very disappointed that Gryffindor has plummeted from third place to last place in just one month."

"You all probably know what will happen next year— the Triwizard Tournament."

"Yes, it's true." Scattered applause rang out from the students below.

They might be excited, but because they had just been criticized, they didn't dare to show it too obviously.

"Moreover, this time it's not just three schools, but four: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Castelobruxo."

"Professor McGonagall suggested that I say these things when the semester starts in September, but you have a whole summer ahead of you. If I wait until then to say them, your minds will be almost blank and you probably won't be able to face this competition well."

"Because, although this Triwizard Tournament still follows the old tradition—the best students from several schools are chosen as Champion to participate in the competition." Everyone looked at Harry.

"However, this time is a little different. Besides the Champion, your performance is also part of this game."

"Therefore, during this precious summer vacation, I hope you can still keep up your magic, study hard, and prepare for the Triwizard Tournament." A noisy discussion suddenly broke out from below the stage.

"Yes, this year, you can still use magic after you leave school."

"But this is for the sake of the competition. Don't use magic where you shouldn't. The Ministry of Magic will be there to help. Now, let's eat!" Dumbledore waved his hand.