Year-End Banquet

"I remember you were really looking forward to going home during the Christmas Holiday last year, weren't you? Why don't you seem to be looking forward to it at all now?"

Bell, who had been calm just moments before, suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

o(TヘTo)

"Because I can't go back!!! I have some very important things to take care of, so I don't know when I can go home! I want to go back and see Shanna—!"

o(≧口≦)o

Just as Penelope was wondering how to comfort Bell, the noisy Great Hall suddenly fell silent.

Penelope looked up and saw that Harry had entered the Great Hall. Everyone was watching Harry, and some who were far away even stood up and stood on tiptoe so that they could see the 'hero' more clearly.

Shortly after Harry sat down, Professor Dumbledore arrived.

After a brief summary of the year, the exciting House Cup awards ceremony finally arrived.

The Little Wizard Slytherin wizards were extremely excited about this, because Slytherin had once again achieved the highest House Points this year!

The little snakes have won the House Cup for six consecutive years. And today, they will achieve an unprecedented seven-peat! The little snakes are trying hard to suppress their excitement, gathering their strength for the explosion to come.

Bell looked at the Slytherin with pity. The poor children, they couldn't possibly imagine what was about to happen. He hoped they could withstand the blows to come and not lose hope in life, or even turn to revenge against society.

"The scores for each house are now as follows: fourth place, Gryffindor, 312 points; third place, Hufflepuff, 352 points; second place, Ravenclaw, 426 points; and last place, Slytherin, 472 points."

The little snakes erupted in thunderous cheers. Bell's gaze towards them softened with even more pity.

"However, a few recent events must also be taken into account," Dumbledore continued.

Then, without hesitation, he added 50 points to Ron, 50 points to Neville, and finally 70 points to Harry. Ultimately, Gryffindor turned the tables, winning the House Cup with a score of 482.

A deafening cheer erupted, with an intensity that seemed poised to rip the ceiling off.

However noisier the Gryffindor Little Lions were than the Slytherin snake cubs were silent.

Looking at the Little Wizard at the Slytherin table with their "Are you kidding me?!" expressions, and Professor Snape's face so dark it was almost dripping with water, Bell had no doubt that if they weren't truly outmatched, they would have already drawn their Wand and torn Dumbledore to pieces.

And so the dinner began with the Slytherin excited and the Gryffindor silent and dejected, and ended with the Slytherin silent and the Gryffindor excited and dejected.

Therefore, happiness is conserved; when one party is happy, the other will be unhappy. And when one party becomes unhappy, the other will become very happy.

Bell discovered that he had inadvertently verified a truth— the Law of Conservation of Happiness.

The next morning.

Today is the first day of the holiday. After breakfast, the Little Wizard will take the Hogwarts Express to London King's Cross Station, and then go home to their respective mothers.

However, what should have been a joyous day was slightly overshadowed by the release of exam results.

To Bell's surprise, his grades were actually quite good, tying for first place in the grade with Hermione.

Because he never attended Defence Against the Dark Arts, Bell thought he'd be lucky to even pass. However, since Quirrell had followed in his "senior's" footsteps (losing his head), the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam was graded by other professors. They had no idea that Bell had never attended class, so they gave him a perfect score.

In any case, Quirrell is finished, Bell achieved a good result, and everyone is happy.

The Ravenclaw students were all surprised, never expecting that Bell, who was usually so quiet, would have such good grades! At the same time, they were also somewhat relieved, at least Ravenclaw wasn't being outdone by Gryffindor in terms of academics.

After breakfast, Bell dropped Hermione off at Hogwarts Station.

"Bell, are you really not coming with us in the car? You didn't come in the car last Christmas either."

Hermione looked at Bell with some dissatisfaction; it was really not easy to get on a train with him.

"Hermione, I really can't help it this time. I really, really want to go home! But I have some things to take care of. Professor Dumbledore is waiting for me in the Headmaster's Office right now."

Bell was also very unhappy. The fact that he couldn't go home to see Shanna during his vacation had already made him want to explode the Earth from the inside out.

Despite his efforts to avoid contact with Dumbledore, he ultimately couldn't escape Dumbledore in order to meet Nicolas Flamel, and had to be led by him to Nicolas Flamel's residence.

After seeing the unhappy Hermione off on the train and watching it disappear into the distance, Bell returned to Hogwarts Castle.

Without delay, Bell arrived at the Headmaster's Office with his suitcase, where Dumbledore was already sitting and waiting for Bell.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Professor."

"It's nothing, I've only been waiting a little while," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "If you're ready, shall we set off?"

After Bell nodded in affirmation, Dumbledore stood up and went to Bell's side. He reached out and grabbed Bell's arm, while beckoning the Fawkes was lying on a support frame nearby, with the other hand.

Bell carefully observed the legendary Phoenix and then felt that the name "England Long-Tailed Turkey" was indeed more suitable for it than "Phoenix".

Fawkes flew over and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder. It let out a clear cry, and then a spatial distortion similar to Side-Along Apparition came, and the two people and the bird disappeared from the Headmaster's Office.

After the distortion disappeared, a dense forest appeared in Bell's eyes. Dumbledore gestured for Bell to wait a moment, then raised his Wand into the air and tapped it twice lightly in front of him.

Bell could sense a magical fluctuation emanating from the tip of Dumbledore's Wand, spreading deep into the forest before him.

After waiting for about five minutes, a surge of magical energy suddenly emanated from in front of Dumbledore, and a portal opened before him. The scenery inside was completely different from the forest before him.

Dumbledore gestured for Bell to follow him, and the portal disappeared immediately after the two entered.

What appeared before Bell was a strange house.

The house doesn't look very big from the outside, but its shape is strange, like the building blocks that Shanna haphazardly piled up when she was a child.

Outside the house is a small garden, planted with some very ordinary but rather pretty plants.

To the uninformed, they would probably just think it was the home of an eccentric wizard, and would never guess that it was the home of Nicolas Flamel, the greatest alchemist of all time.