Chapter 212: Easter

Everything seemed to slow down; the wizard chess and squirrel cookies reached the [Expert] level a few days before Easter, and En began planning how to reasonably deliver them to Professor Quirrell.

For an ordinary wizard, a [Apprentice]-level cookie could accomplish transfiguration, but Professor Quirrell’s condition was anything but ordinary, so En took no action until the [Expert] level was reached.

He could not expose himself to Voldemort’s gaze, and the same applied to the squirrel cookies.

Voldemort was quick to anger and lost his reason, but that did not mean he lacked intelligence. On the contrary, he was exceedingly cunning.

Once.

Under the condition of not alerting Voldemort and while he remained completely unaware of Quirrell’s possession, there was only one chance to act.

In this contemplation, Easter approached.

The professors had hidden many Easter eggs throughout Hogwarts; lucky young wizards might find some interesting trinkets.

The castle was once again decorated in vibrant colors, and the tables in the Great Hall were piled high with all manner of round eggs.

Ron and Harry had started preparing to exchange eggs early, while Hermione was preoccupied with something else.

She had already begun drafting a study plan and marked her notes with different colors.

Jia Jia Siting and Nawei helped out a bit; with their organization in Herbology, Magical History, and other subjects, Hermione’s progress accelerated greatly.

Harry and Ron had not cared much; one spent most of his day training;

the other had been praised for a week after completing the banner and was now busy studying Transfiguration.

But the atmosphere in the hut still infected them, especially Hermione, who was nearly scheduling their meals and bathroom breaks.

“Hermione, the exams are still centuries away.”

Ron pleaded, not wanting to time even his bathroom visits.

“Ten weeks,”

Hermione retorted,

“not centuries. To Nicolas Flamel, it’s just a blink.”

“But we’re not six hundred years old,”

Ron reminded her,

“and anyway, why are you even studying? You already know everything.”

“Why am I studying? Are you mad? Don’t you know we need to pass these exams to advance to second year? They’re important—I should’ve started reviewing a month ago. I don’t even know what I was thinking…”

Hermione was furious; she simply could not make Harry and Ron understand.

She walked toward the center, pretending to glance casually at En’s plan map—he had recently been using something like a map for planning—and then nodded in satisfaction,

This was normal.

“Hermione, you can’t compare us to En.”

Ron whispered.

“What about Jia Jia Siting? Or Nawei?”

Hermione lifted her head, presenting Jia Jia Siting’s equally packed schedule and Nawei’s plan that bordered on living in the Hope Hut.

“Oh, Merlin’s beard, are they first-years or what…”

Ron muttered helplessly, then began studying.

When the holiday arrived, the hut still buzzed with the atmosphere of study.

On En’s wooden tabletop lay a broom. He had pushed the proficiency of three mid-rank alchemy creations—wizard chess, bizarre wizard chess, and the leisurely broom—to [Expert].

Now, he was working on the proficiency of the plan map.

He handed Jia Jia Siting a small button as the object for the Summoning Charm, then added Jia Jia Siting’s name to the plan map.

Based on variations in magical fluctuations, the name would move accordingly.

He also added a reverse Summoning Charm to the button; when Jia Jia Siting squeezed it, Jia Jia Siting’s name on En’s map would glow.

It looked like an NPC assigning a quest…

En watched the glowing name, thinking silently.

“En! Can it label multiple people?”

Jia Jia Siting quickly leaned over, watching his own name move, his eyes widening slightly.

“Yes.”

En nodded.

“Merlin—”

Jia Jia Siting seemed to grasp a possible application.

His exclamation drew the young wizards over, but at that moment, the Hogwarts bell rang, and everyone, curious, headed to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was dazzling, piled high with Easter eggs of all sizes; some young wizards had already begun exchanging them.

En received many and gave away quite a few.

Since enrollment, his holiday gifts had covered the entire professorial table at Hogwarts.

The professors had given him countless favors; even Professor Quirrell had exchanged gifts with him.

En had given the professors some books; he did not know what they had given him, and out of caution, he had never touched the packages.

The last person who had opened one without permission was Headmaster Dumbledore—and he ended up cursed by the black magic embedded in the ring.

At the professorial table.

Dumbledore stared curiously at his Easter egg, which read: Bee Cookies.

It was easy to guess who sent it.

He blinked, then turned to Minerva McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall received an egg painted with a cat; she placed it carefully, clearly not planning to open it now.

Professor Snape waved his wand, extracted the reindeer cookies from the egg, then let out a heavy, cold snort and tucked them into his robe.

The most unremarkable figure at the professorial table was Professor Quirrell.

Since few had given him gifts, En’s solitary egg stood out starkly.

He stared at the egg for a long time, then slowly placed it in his bag, along with the note:

【Happy Easter】

…

The holiday had begun.

For the young wizards, it was unfortunate that the professors’ thoughts seemed to align with Hermione’s.

They assigned a mountain of homework; the Easter holiday was far from as enjoyable as Christmas.

With Hermione reciting the twelve uses of dragon blood or practicing wand movements beside you, rest was impossible.

Most of the people in the Hope Hut spent their free time studying; though they sighed and yawned constantly, the results were clear.

That day, outside the window.

The sky was clear and bright, blue as the color of forget-me-nots, carrying the scent of summer approaching.

For months, this was the first such good weather they had encountered.

Those who had finished their homework now had ample time to rest properly; Ron struggled with the remaining snowdrifts, trying to transfigure them into a snowman.

Jia Jia Siting and Hermione chased after Nawei, who had transformed into an animal, and without realizing it, they neared the Forbidden Forest.

Inside the Forbidden Forest, En was speaking with Hagrid:

“Dragon breeding? I’ve seen books in the library: ‘Dragon Species of Britain and Ireland,’ ‘From Dragon Egg to Hell,’ ‘A Making Guide to Raising Dragons’…”