Chapter 179: Youthful Longing

When Harry and Luo En were eating breakfast while looking at the course schedule for this term, a girl sat directly beside them.

Harry looked at her in surprise. It was Hermione. Her hair was fluffy at this time, and one could vaguely see the foundation of a beauty, but all in all, she was still unremarkable. In the eyes of Harry and Luo En, who had seen her dance attire, this could almost be considered dressing ugly.

"I plan to drop some classes this term; do you have any suggestions?" Hermione poked Harry's waist generously.

"Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies." Harry reported four classes without hesitation. "For you, these classes only require looking at the books; there's no need to listen to them specifically."

"But have you forgotten, this year's Muggle Studies class is taught by Lu Ping." Luo En said. "I mean, if you're worried that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is a bit unreliable, why not find more opportunities to ask him for advice?"

"Makes a lot of sense." Hermione nodded with a smile. "By the way, Harry, what do you think I can do in my spare time? I mean, the kind that helps with your plans."

"It's good that you have this idea, of course, but I don't have any good ideas right now." Harry mused. "Our plan is simple if you say it's simple: soldier against soldier, general against general. If you can find a way to cause some trouble for Ma Erfu, that would be great. Of course, I mean old Ma Erfu, and also, you must prioritize your own safety."

"I think I understand what you mean, find something for those pure-blood nobles to do, right?" Hermione patted Luo En on the shoulder. "Starting with the children, I'll go back and conceive a plan."

After saying this, she rolled up two slices of bread on the table and strode toward the classroom.

Harry scratched his head in confusion. "I feel Hermione, a bit strange?"

Luo En, on the other hand, looked a bit pleasantly surprised. He pointed to Neville and Hannah not far away and said incoherently: "You see, she didn't go to find him, she came to find me."

"Yes, yes, you pointed out Hermione's strangeness very well..." Harry followed along, wanting to analyze it.

"Yes, she came to find me first, and asked us for suggestions."

"That's right, I think this point is very strange..."

"What I said, she happily agreed with, and she also thought it made a lot of sense."

"You discovered another suspicious point." Harry nodded in deep agreement.

"She also stared at me, and patted my shoulder." When Luo En finished this sentence, he suddenly woke up and asked Harry: "What did you say?"

"I said you put too much butter on; that will cause high blood lipids." Harry decided not to investigate this problem first, because it looked like an emotional problem.

Just as Luo En was constantly stacking bread slices, trying to dilute the butter, hundreds of owls flew in from the open windows. Hedwig brought him a letter from Mr. Crowley. Harry browsed the words of family greetings at a glance, his peripheral vision catching Luo En hurriedly stuffing a copy of *Twelve Effective Ways to Attract Witches* into his robes.

The content of the Herbology class was to deal with Bubotuber pus, which was mainly used to treat acne. Some girls were injured because they tried to use spells to remove acne on their faces, which was also the reason why Professor Sprout prioritized this class.

"Oh right, I remember." Harry said in a low voice. "Zhang Qiu knows the Makeup Charm; I can persuade her to teach the girls."

"Then you have to let her teach Ginny." Luo En echoed without hesitation, but then said the next sentence hesitantly. "Maybe let her teach Hannah too."

"What's wrong with you, Luo En?" Harry keenly felt something was wrong. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Luo En's eyes were clearly dodging.

"That's good." Harry knew he didn't want to say, so he didn't pursue it.

After the Herbology class, it was the Care of Magical Creatures class. Harry and Luo En watched Neville say goodbye to Hannah, and then the three walked toward Hagrid's hut together.

"Harry," Neville said in a low voice, "do you know the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"I've heard of him; his name is Moody, and he's an Auror." Harry said casually. "But it seems he has been retired for a while. What's wrong?"

"You know, I have to decide whether to take Muggle Studies based on whether he's reliable." Neville shrugged.

"Do you really think Muggle Studies can make up for Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Luo En said. "Lu Ping is a responsible professor, so when he teaches Muggle Studies, he must be really studying Muggles."

"Makes sense, brother." Neville patted him on the shoulder, and Luo En's ears were a bit red.

Harry suddenly wanted to laugh. He knew why this was; Luo En had also started to notice Hermione, and like Donald, he viewed Neville as his number one rival in love.

"Good morning!" Hagrid greeted them from afar. "You definitely won't want to miss this—Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

Harry and Luo En walked closer to take a look; a box of strange, sticky mollusks was wriggling and twisting at Hagrid's feet, and a strong smell of stinking fish and shrimp came, making the two couldn't help but frown.

"Disgusting!" A girl screamed and leaned into Luo En's arms, making him feel at a loss for a moment.

When Luo En helped the girl who threw herself into his arms up, he noticed it was Lavender, a Gryffindor classmate of the same year. Last year, she had shown interest in Luo En.

When Ma Erfu and the Slytherin students arrived one after another, they were mostly frightened by the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Fortunately, Luo En had already coaxed Lavender away in time. Ma Erfu had a belly full of fire with nowhere to vent, and could only sarcastically mock Hagrid's teaching progress.

Next, for the whole noon, Luo En was savoring the two sentences Hermione said to him at lunch, while Harry found a quiet corner with Zhang Qiu and chatted through the plan set last year again.

"The Ministry of Magic originally intended to use the Triwizard Tournament to lure Voldemort into taking action, and then I would defeat him by surprise." Harry summarized. "But now Voldemort knows this plan; he intends to use the plan against us, pretending to come to attack me, but actually launching a sneak attack on Deng Buliduo who is lying in ambush on the side."

"Then, you must have enough means to threaten him," Zhang Qiu said. "Continuing to rely on the Time-Momentary Moment isn't necessarily reliable; you have to learn some more powerful spells."

The two chatted about more than a dozen ways that might threaten Voldemort, but Harry felt they weren't necessarily reliable. Before the afternoon class started, they separated, each with their own thoughts.

"Ah, Harry, you went on a date with Zhang Qiu again, right?" Luo En said sourly as soon as he saw Harry.

"I have to know the attitude of the Chinese, Luo En." Harry prevaricated. "Whether it's the Triwizard Tournament itself or our plan to fight the Mysterious Person, we need their cooperation and help."

"But you don't have to discuss it quietly with her, you could completely let me and Neville know—"

"Ah, children, long time no see." When Lu Ping walked into the classroom with a smile, Luo En also closed his mouth, and his little emotions seemed to disappear all at once.

"I think most of you will still miss the days when I taught you how to guard against dark creatures." Lu Ping opened the lesson plan with a smile. "But unfortunately, Headmaster Deng Buliduo thinks it's best for a professor not to teach that subject for more than a year, so I will teach you some knowledge about Muggles this year."

"Of course, I also miss those days, so this year's theme is: how to guard against ill-intentioned Muggles, and how to fight against Muggle weapons of mass destruction." Lu Ping said. "Now, which student is willing to tell me, what is the most commonly used weapon by Muggles?"

"Guns." Luo En answered first.

"That's right, guns are a very useful weapon. Some Aurors will also use them as secondary weapons. They can fire bullets, and their power is about equal to 1.5 Stupefy spells, which is very dangerous." Lu Ping explained in his own way. "However, most firearms cannot penetrate the Shield Charm. When facing some Muggles with malice, I suggest you keep a Shield Charm on your body at all times."

"Remember the incantation for the Shield Charm: *Protego*. This is the simplest and most effective self-defense means we have in front of Muggles. Next, I will explain the key points of casting the Shield Charm to you. Students who encounter difficulties during practice can also come to me for advice at any time..."

Lu Ping quickly shifted the topic to the field he was familiar with, and the second half of the class was changed into a practical class, directly starting to lead everyone to practice the Shield Charm.

Until late at night, Luo En's mood was still normal, but once he got into bed, he couldn't help but start letting his imagination run wild again.

"Hey, Harry." Across a bed curtain, Luo En whispered. "Has Ivy mentioned me to you?"

"More than once." Harry said truthfully. "You left a very deep impression on her."

"Oh, that gives me a bit of a headache." Luo En was silent for a long time before continuing. "I don't know why, I must be possessed. I think she might like me, but that's not the point. The point is that I keep thinking about Hermione these past two days."

"Yes, it's too strange, you've been absent-minded all day." Harry said.

"I don't know, is it because of Ma Erfu." Luo En's voice was lower. "Maybe I'm afraid of competing with him, so I'll pay attention to the Muggle girl he doesn't care about at all..."

"Luo En!" Harry was a bit annoyed. He thought Luo En started to be obsessed with Hermione because of the inertia of fate; he didn't expect it to be for this reason.

"If you like Ivy, then don't be afraid of any obstacles." Harry said seriously. "So what if it's Ma Erfu? Is there really any place where you are worse than him?"

"Isn't that obvious." Luo En's tone was also a bit unhappy.

"Ivy won't care, and conversely, you can also use Pansy to contain Ma Erfu." Harry subconsciously started to make plans for Luo En. "Everything is legal in love and war."

"Yes, you don't want him to touch Ivy either." Luo En seemed to be a bit more encouraged. "Alright, I think this is the best news I've heard all day." ===== CHAPTER 180 =====