"This design is brilliant!" exclaimed a Hufflepuff boy while playing against his friend in the common room. "It's exactly like the story in the book."
"You bet." His opponent slammed a [ Quirrell ] onto the table. "That's why I've been waiting for this card. You're finished."
"Wait, wait, wait—" The Hufflepuff boy glanced down at his hand, then suddenly looked up, "I have Bewitchment in my hand!"
He played a card called [ The Diary's Seduction ] onto the field. The card read, "Control one of your opponent's minions and turn it into one of your minions."
"Where did you get this diary from?" The opponent was stunned.
"I drew it." The boy smiled smugly.
"This is not fair!"
"Whether it's fair or not, you should first see if you can even keep your [ Quirrell ]."
Similar conversations were taking place throughout Hogwarts.
Beside the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron and Seamus are sparring.
Ron held the Hogwarts Deck in his hand, hesitating over which card to play.
"Hurry up!" Seamus urged him, "Are you coming out or not?"
"Don't rush." Ron stared at the cards in his hand, muttering to himself, "I have [ Harry ] and [ Hermione ], if only I could draw [ Ron ]..."
"You won't get it." Seamus looked confidently at his deck. "I have [ Malfoy ], [ Crabbe ], and [ Goyle ] all on my side. I'll get [ Pure-blood's Contempt ] next turn."
"Your three minion cards have such low stats, even if you had them all on the board, you still couldn't beat me."
Ron ignored him and drew a card from the deck.
He glanced down and suddenly a wide grin spread across his face.
"I play [ Ron ]." He slammed the 0/2 one-cost card onto the board.
With the cards [ Harry ], [ Ron ], and [ Hermione ] all present at the same time, the [ Bond of Never Leaving or Abandoning One Another ] effect is instantly triggered.
The three cards, which originally had pitifully low attack power and health, changed in an instant.
When three people stand together, each card gains a +1/+1 bonus each turn.
Although it's still not high, at least it's not so shabby anymore.
"Then I'll play a power card." Ron played another card, which depicted several red-haired boys and had the words "[ Bond of Red Hair ]" written next to it.
All followers with " Weasley " in their name gain +2/+2.
Ron's card immediately became much stronger.
Seamus's eyes widened. "That's not fair! Where did you get the Weasley boost?"
" The Hogwarts Deck has Weasley Twins minion cards," Ron shrugged, looking completely matter-of-fact.
Seamus stared at the two cards Ron had left in his hand and let out a long sigh.
I surrender.
Ron grinned as he gathered the cards on the table, feeling quite pleased with himself.
Although he wasn't as good at Quidditch as Harry in real life, and his exam scores weren't as good as Hermione's, the Weasley surname finally had an advantage in the card game.
"One more round?" Seamus asked.
"Come."
They reshuffled the cards and started a new game.
On the sofa next to them, Neville and Dean were also playing cards.
"What are you going to play?" Neville asked, looking at his hand with some nervousness.
"I play [ Snape ]." Dean slammed a card onto the table; the card depicted a greasy-haired man.
"Then I'll use a power card [ Levitation Charm ] to prevent an enemy minion with less than 5 attack from acting next turn."
"I have no followers on the field," Neville said, shaking his head.
"Then I'll just hit you directly." Dean picked up a die and rolled it. The die landed on a number. "3 points of damage, your health drops from 20 to 17."
Neville frowned. The opponent's deck had a lot of damage cards, Dean's draws this game looked pretty good.
But Neville wasn't in a hurry. He drew a card from his hand, glanced at it, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"I'll play [ Harry ]."
He slammed the card onto the table.
Dean glanced down at the card, his expression unchanged.
It's just a [ Harry ] card; it won't affect the outcome of the battle.
But then, as Neville equipped Harry with the Sword of Gryffindor and Fawkes entered the arena, Dean's expression turned completely panicked.
"Wait, how come you're so lucky..."
Neville smiled slightly, and in the next round, Dumbledore appeared on the field.
[ Dumbledore ] has an 8-cost 10/10 stat line and the effect "While on the board, the cost of all Dark Magic Cards is doubled".
Additionally, [ Dumbledore ] is a powerful card with the following effect. "Gain two random cards from the ' Hogwarts ' faction each turn."
In other words, Dean will be unable to play some of the dark Magic Cards he wanted to use next, and Neville will gain a large amount of resources every turn.
"How come you're so lucky?" Dean, somewhat exasperated.
"I've been praying," Neville said, his tone unusually confident. "It seems to be having some effect."
Dean looked at the [ Dumbledore ] card on Neville's field, then at the dark Magic Cards in his hand that he couldn't play for the time being because their cost had doubled, and sighed deeply.
"You win."
"One more round?" Neville asked.
"Come."
Students could be seen playing this card game in small groups everywhere at Hogwarts —in the corridors, common rooms, and even in the corners of the library.
In the Ravenclaw Tower, a few upperclassmen even organized a small card battle tournament, making simple scoreboards out of parchment and sticking them on the bulletin board.
The winner's name will be written at the top, next to a golden Golden Snitch icon.
"Who's the next challenger?" A Ravenclaw girl stood at the table, holding her carefully crafted Hogwarts Deck.
"I'll go." A Slytherin boy squeezed out from the crowd, holding a Hogwarts deck in his hand as well.
"I'd like to see if your Hogwarts set can beat mine."
"Haven't you learned your lesson since you lost to Neville's [ Dumbledore ] last time?"
"Last time was last time. This time I've added [ Draco ] and his henchmen."
The two people sat down facing each other, shuffled their cards, and then began their game.
More and more people gathered around, and some even stood on the stairs to look down.
Each card played elicited a murmur of discussion, and each trigger of a chain reaction drew either praise or lamentation.
"She's out of Dumbledore!"
"This is terrible, the cost of Dark Magic has doubled."
"Not necessarily, he still has a [ Guardian of Hogwarts ] card that can clear the field—"
"Wait, she took out the Sorting Hat first? What is she looking for?"
"[ Sword of Gryffindor ]! She drew [ Sword of Gryffindor ] from the deck!"
"How can you fight with Dumbledore and the Sword of Gryffindor?"
The Slytherin boy looked at the double dominance of Dumbledore and the sword on the opposite side of the table, remained silent for a few seconds, and then put the cards in his hand on the table.
I surrender.
"Best of three?" the Ravenclaw girl asked with a smile.
"No, I've already lost two rounds to you today." The Slytherin boy waved his hand, but his face didn't show much resentment; instead, it carried a hint of unfinished business. "Let's try again tomorrow."
I'm available anytime.
Although the competition at the poker table is intense, no one really cares about winning or losing.
After all, it's just a game, a game that came from the Muggle world, built with paper and rules.
But for some reason, this game is just so addictive.
Perhaps it's because they all recognize the figures depicted on those cards. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick... these professors they pass by in the hallway every day.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy... these classmates ate at the same long table.
And those monster cards— the Basilisk, the phoenix, the Troll ... I've read about every single one of them in the book.
When you play the card [ Dumbledore ] at the poker table, the image that comes to mind is that kind yet dignified old man with a silver beard standing in the center of the Great Hall.
When you play the cards [ Harry ], [ Ron ], and [ Hermione ], you picture the three of them walking side by side down a hallway.
When you type "[ Pure-blood's Contempt ]", you picture Malfoy with his chin up, leading Crabbe and Goyle past the Slytherin table.
From upper-grade students to first-graders, everyone had a blast.