Chapter 302

“Then don’t apologize—”

Peeves tugged her cheek, sending the little witch away with tear-filled eyes.

Wizard Sean silently waved his wand, and the little witch’s hat floated back at least.

“Th-thank you.”

The little witch cried like a drowned rat.

“Sorry.”

Wizard Sean said.

Then he stared for a long moment, slightly doubting whether enlisting Peeves had been the right decision.

Morning.

Sunlight spilled over the castle’s spires as Hogwarts awoke rapidly.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom buzzed again as young witches and wizards chattered their way in.

Since the house-elf disaster, Lockhart no longer brought live creatures into class.

Now, he read long passages from his own books to the students, sometimes acting out dramatic segments.

He had chosen Wizard Sean, but was refused.

Currently, he usually picked Harry to help him reenact the scenes.

So far, Harry had been forced to portray: a simple Transylvanian villager cursed with Bubble-Head Charm, later cured by Lockhart; and a vampire who, after encountering Lockhart, ate nothing but carrots.

In this Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Harry was dragged forward again—this time to play a werewolf.

As Harry performed, Ron’s face turned as red as a carrot, and Hermione wearily reminded him:

“Ron, Harry’s already suffering enough.”

“Alright, look—Harry’s about to howl.”

Ron choked back his laughter.

Hermione’s face tightened, a faint curve appearing at the corner of her mouth.

Harry gritted his teeth on the podium.

He hadn’t wanted to cooperate, but Jia Jia Siting had told him there was a crucial reason to keep Lockhart in good spirits.

“Brilliant, Harry! Perfect! Then, believe it or not, I lunged at him like this—bang!—knocked him down.

Then like this, I pinned him to the ground with one hand, held my wand to his throat with the other—and after catching my breath, used the last of my strength to cast a highly complex Human-Reversal Charm.

He let out a pitiful moan—Harry, keep going—higher—good!”

Hermione finally broke, laughing out loud.

Ron chuckled beside her.

Neville was still reading his Standard Spellbook, its margin beside Wizard Sean’s notes.

Harry’s torment finally ended.

The bell rang; Lockhart stood up.

“Homework: Write a poem about how I defeated the Wogga-Woga werewolf! The best one will receive several signed copies of My Magical Self!”

At that moment, Wizard Sean knew his chance had come.

He quietly approached, only to find an unexpected figure there.

“Professor Lockhart,”

Jia Jia Siting said naturally,

“I’d like to borrow this book from the library—you know, your books contain such rich knowledge.”

“My dear Fenlili, my fan—of course you may!”

Lockhart took the slip from Jia Jia Siting’s hand, beaming warmly,

“You, Mr. Green, and Miss Granger—all scored perfect marks. I’ll give you another—one more—this—”

He scrawled a large, florid signature on the slip, then signed his name on The Monster Book of the Corpse-Visitor.

As Jia Jia Siting closed the book, Wizard Sean saw a slip beneath it, its Invisibility Charm just lifted.

Wizard Sean glanced at Jia Jia Siting; everyone silently hurried away.

“I can’t believe it,”

Harry said,

“You went through all this just for this slip? Is this for the Restricted Section?”

Jia Jia Siting nodded gently, then placed the slip in Wizard Sean’s hand.

“He didn’t even look at it…”

Harry marveled.

“Because he’s a brainless fool,”

Ron said—he now understood why Wizard Sean had answered every question perfectly.

They parted there: Harry headed to Quidditch practice, Neville was obsessed with spells… but Hermione followed along.

No one was surprised by the Restricted Section slip.

If Hogwarts needed a Restricted Section librarian, Wizard Sean would be the first to apply… oh no—he didn’t need to apply; he did this nearly every day.

Many times, you’d see him opening the library doors with Mrs. Pince.

“I happened to see the approval form… glad I could help.”

Jia Jia Siting held up The Monster Book of the Corpse-Visitor.

“Yes, you helped a lot.”

Wizard Sean replied.

Jia Jia Siting blinked in surprise.

Hermione stared at the slip, suddenly thinking Wizard Sean’s matter might be more important than her own reading.

Then Jia Jia Siting opened The Monster Book of the Corpse-Visitor—inside was a tracing paper, layered beneath it a stack of slips.

“Just peel and stick—now we can explore the secrets of Hogwarts’ library anytime.”

Jia Jia Siting handed a slip to Hermione; the little witch stared, wide-eyed, frozen for a moment.

…

Golden sunlight flooded the windows again; after a rainy night, good weather always felt precious.

The Quidditch team had trained in wind, rain, and mud—now at least they could stay clean.

Harry didn’t want to enter the shed each time and hear the magic mirror shout:

“Filthy as a rag!”

Wizard Sean passed the Quidditch pitch now, heading toward Hagrid’s hut—this route was unavoidable.

He didn’t rush to the library, for his Advanced Transfiguration was imminent.

Thanks to the panel, his growth was cumulative, sometimes even rapid.

After mastering certain techniques, his [Skilled] level material transfiguration came twice as fast as expected.

A warm wind blew at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; Bai Yi had already snatched a biscuit and chased Fang.

Ti La wasn’t as lively as Bai Yi; most times she just peeked out quietly from Wizard Sean’s pocket.

Wizard Sean silently calculated his progress, weighing the Sorting Hat’s words about timing, when he suddenly spotted a group of little witches.

They stood by the Black Lake, as if watching something, and he caught faint sounds—

“The ground is alive—it rises and falls every day. That’s it sneezing.”

Then came a burst of laughter; Wizard Sean saw everyone leave, leaving only Luna seated by the Black Lake.

The sky and the Black Lake had turned the same pale blue, shimmering with violet after the rain.

She wore no shoes, nor socks, just sat barefoot on the grass.

The ground after the rain wasn’t dry; some patches remained muddy.

Luna heard the rustle of crushed grass as someone stepped on it.