Chapter 40: Sunglasses

The corridors of Hogwarts' main castle were extremely busy before morning classes began.

Yet today, the bustling corridors suddenly fell silent, only to erupt into tremendous laughter...

Allen didn't even remember how he had rushed out of the crowd and arrived at Professor McGonagall's office door...

He only remembered that in the end, Peeves was still waving above the corridor the cloak Allen had made from his own bedsheet...

Numbly, he knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door.

Then the door opened automatically; Allen walked into Professor McGonagall's office like a living corpse and slumped into the chair opposite her desk.

Professor McGonagall still looked serious, her lips tightly pressed together, but her twitching mouth corner and slightly trembling body betrayed her...

Allen helplessly said to Professor McGonagall, "Professor, if you want to laugh, just laugh; don't hold it in and hurt yourself. I've already gotten used to it all the way here..."

Professor McGonagall hurried into the washroom inside the office, quickly shut the door, and loud bursts of laughter immediately came from within...

The laughter lasted for five minutes before stopping...

Professor McGonagall walked out of the washroom, but she could no longer maintain her serious demeanor...

"I haven't had such a hearty laugh in a long time! Thank you, Allen!" Professor McGonagall said, using a handkerchief to wipe the corners of her eyes.

Allen helplessly pressed his forehead, indicating that as long as she was happy, that was fine.

After some sampling and testing, the entire process for Allen's cooperative research was completed.

Professor McGonagall could not identify which species of turtle this shell belonged to, but since its hardness was very high, she proceeded to photograph it according to standard procedure.

Allen prepared to take his leave.

Professor McGonagall seemed to remember something: "Allen, earlier in your letter you mentioned requesting leave; do you still wish to take leave now?"

Allen thought that with his current appearance, the news had probably spread throughout the entire school; since he had already suffered social death, taking leave now would be meaningless and would only delay his studies.

So he said to Professor McGonagall, "I won't request leave; requesting leave is now meaningless!"

"Then it would be inconvenient for you to assist Hagrid tonight, wouldn't it? Shall I cancel it for you?" Professor McGonagall continued to ask with concern.

At this moment, Allen remembered what Ron had said about the magical materials in the Forbidden Forest and suddenly felt reluctant to give up such a good opportunity; moreover, his current predicament was entirely caused by his intention to go to the Forbidden Forest, and feeling that he had paid such a high price without gaining anything made Allen feel somewhat unbalanced.

So he made up his mind and said to Professor McGonagall, "I must cherish this work-study opportunity provided by the school; besides, I already made an appointment with Hagrid yesterday. Going to the Forbidden Forest in my current state will actually be safer. So please let me go!"

Professor McGonagall readily agreed to Allen's request...

After leaving Professor McGonagall's office,

Allen completely gave up on saving face; he walked through Hogwarts Castle just as he was, watched by many people along the way, and even the figures in the portraits crossed from one frame to another to chase after Allen with their gazes.

Today, Allen had become the most conspicuous person in Hogwarts, turning into the source of amusement for all the teachers and students...

He believed that in the coming months, people would repeatedly talk about this incident...

And the news would be sent back to their respective families via the young wizards' owls, then spread throughout the entire British Wizarding World...

Perhaps decades later, people would still firmly remember this event...

Perhaps this was the ultimate social death! Allen lamented to himself in his heart.

The afternoon class was Potions.

Surprisingly, Professor Snape withstood Allen's mental pollution and conducted the lesson just as usual...

But the young wizards were not so formidable; during the class, they constantly pointed and whispered about Allen,

and some even couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Even Professor Snape's authority failed to deter them.

Professor Snape had to stop multiple times to maintain classroom discipline and punish the offending students; only then did he gradually restore order, yet Allen still noticed many young wizards continually looking at him.

Especially Malfoy, who kept making various provocative gestures toward Allen, but Allen truly couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention.

Strangely enough, Professor Snape did not deduct a single point from Gryffindor during the entire class.

During the break, he even actively approached Allen to request collecting some of his turtle shell, wishing to test the effects of using it in potion-making...

Thinking back to the previous formula matter, Allen agreed to Professor Snape's request...

After struggling to remove some samples, Professor Snape disappeared.

What made Allen even stranger was that Hermione did not sit in the front row today; instead, she sat beside Allen.

"Hermione, why did you come over here?" Allen asked Hermione in a low voice.

"I was afraid you couldn't withstand the pressure of the mockery, so I specially found this for you!" Hermione said, placing an exquisite small box in front of Allen.

"What is this?" Allen picked up the box and asked puzzledly.

"Just open it and see; this can reduce the pressure others bring upon you," Hermione replied softly.

Allen quickly opened the exquisite small box and discovered a pair of sunglasses lying inside; puzzled, he asked Hermione, "How do you have this?"

"I brought it from the Muggle World—these sunglasses are worth quite a lot in the Muggle World!" Hermione added.

A warm current surged in Allen's heart; he felt Hermione was truly a good girl, and he also realized her method was excellent, truly capable of blocking others' prying gazes... This greatly reduced Allen's psychological pressure.

However, Allen noticed that the shape of these sunglasses was somewhat strange; resembling an eyepatch, both ends were pointed, forming an acute angle.

But at this moment, Allen felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen this image of himself somewhere before...

Finally, he remembered: wasn't this the shape of Captain Squirtle's sunglasses?

Carrying a turtle shell on his back while wearing these sunglasses was truly a perfect match; he was a living, breathing Squirtle! Allen silently complained to himself.

But obviously, the young wizards knew nothing about this.

Allen quietly breathed a sigh of relief and once again expressed his gratitude to Hermione.

At this moment, Harry and Ron also came over; although they had laughed heartily for a long time that morning, seeing Allen in this state still made them unable to hold back, and they began snickering beside him, forcing Allen to remind them to watch their cauldrons.

Allen could tolerate others, but he could not tolerate these two close friends; unable to restrain himself, he reached out to teach the two laughing loudly a lesson.

He suddenly remembered that Squirtle had a move called: "Skull Bash!"

So he grabbed Ron and head-butted him squarely in the back, making him cough repeatedly...

Right after the strike, he suddenly felt something was wrong...

He thought of the widely circulated memes of Squirtle... (I'll just post the images in the comments!)