Chapter 179

As Harry and Ron ate breakfast and flipped through their schedule for the term, a girl sat down right beside them.

Harry glanced at her in surprise—it was Hermione, her hair frizzy, with traces of beauty beneath, yet still plainly unremarkable; to Harry and Ron, who had seen her in her ball gown, she might as well have been deliberately ugly.

"I'm thinking of dropping a few classes this term—any suggestions?" Hermione casually jabbed Harry in the ribs.

"Divination, Numerology, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies," Harry replied without hesitation. "For you, just reading the books is enough—no need to attend the lectures."

"But you forgot—this term's Muggle Studies is taught by Lupin," Ron said. "I mean, if you're worried the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor might be unreliable, you might as well take the chance to ask him more questions."

"That makes sense," Hermione nodded with a smile. "By the way, Harry, what do you think I could do in my free time? Something that would help with your plan."

"It's good you're thinking like that, but I don't have any solid ideas right now," Harry mused. "Our plan is simple in theory—soldier against soldier, general against general. If you can cause some trouble for Malfoy, that'd help—though I mean old Malfoy—and above all, prioritize your own safety."

"I think I understand—you want me to stir up trouble for the pure-blood nobility, right?" Hermione patted Ron's shoulder. "I'll start working on a plan, starting with the children."

With that, she rolled up two slices of bread and strode off toward the classroom.

Harry scratched his head, puzzled. "I feel like Hermione's acting weird."

Ron, however, looked delighted. He pointed toward Neville and Hannah, fumbling for words: "Look—she didn't go to him, she came to me."

"Yes, yes, you've perfectly identified Hermione's oddness…" Harry began to analyze.

"Yeah, she came to me first, and asked for our advice."

"Exactly—I think this is very strange…"

"She agreed happily with what I said, and even thought it made sense."

"You've found another anomaly," Harry nodded deeply in agreement.

"She stared at me, and patted my shoulder." As Ron finished, he suddenly snapped his head toward Harry. "What did you say?"

"I said you've spread too much butter—it'll raise your cholesterol," Harry decided not to dig deeper, since this seemed like an emotional issue.

As Ron kept stacking bread slices to dilute the butter, over a hundred owls flew in through the open window; Hedwig brought a letter from Mr. Crouch. Harry skimmed the casual pleasantries, then caught Ron hastily shoving a book titled *Twelve Effective Ways to Attract Witches* into his robe.

The Herbology lesson involved handling Bubotuber pus, primarily used to treat acne. Several girls had injured themselves trying to cast spells to remove pimples—this was why Professor Sprout prioritized this lesson.

"Oh right, I remember," Harry murmured. "Zhang Qiu knows a makeup charm—I can convince her to teach it to the girls."

"Then you should get her to teach Ginny," Ron replied without thinking, then added hesitantly, "Maybe… also Hannah."

"What's going on with you, Ron?" Harry sensed something off. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Ron's eyes darted away.

"Good," Harry knew he wouldn't talk, so he didn't press.

After Herbology came Care of Magical Creatures. Harry and Ron watched Neville say goodbye to Hannah, then the three of them headed together toward Hagrid's hut.

"Harry," Neville whispered, "do you know the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"I've heard of him—he's Moody, an Auror," Harry replied offhand. "But he's been retired for a while—why?"

"I need 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?" Ron said. "Lupin's a responsible professor—he's definitely actually studying Muggles when he teaches that class."

"Makes sense, brother," Neville patted his shoulder, and Ron's ears turned red.

Harry suddenly felt like laughing—he knew why. Ron had started noticing Hermione too, and like Donald, he saw Neville as his top romantic rival.

"Good morning!" Hagrid called out from afar. "You won't want to miss this—the Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

Harry and Ron stepped closer: a crate of strange, slimy, squirming soft-bodied creatures writhed at Hagrid's feet, emitting a foul stench of rotten fish and shrimp that made them both frown.

"Disgusting!" a girl shrieked, collapsing into Ron's arms, leaving him utterly flustered.

As Ron helped the girl to her feet, he realized it was Lavender—a fellow Gryffindor who had shown interest in him last year.

When Draco and the Slytherins arrived, they too were startled by the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Fortunately, Ron had already calmed Lavender down; Draco, unable to vent his fury, could only sneer at Hagrid's teaching pace.

For the rest of the afternoon, Ron kept replaying Hermione's two remarks at lunch, while Harry found a quiet corner with Zhang Qiu to revisit last year's plan.

"The Ministry originally planned to lure Voldemort into action through the Triwizard Tournament, then have me ambush and defeat him," Harry summarized. "But now Voldemort knows the plan—he intends to pretend he's coming after me, while actually launching a surprise attack on Dumbledore hiding nearby."

"Then you need enough leverage to threaten him," Zhang Qiu said. "Relying on the Time-Space Array isn't reliable anymore—you need to learn stronger spells."

The two discussed over a dozen possible ways to threaten Voldemort, but Harry found none convincing; they parted before afternoon classes, each lost in thought.

"Ah, Harry, you went on another date with Zhang Qiu, didn't you?" Ron said sourly the moment he saw Harry.

"I need to understand the Chinese stance, Ron," Harry evaded. "Whether it's the Triwizard Tournament itself or our plan against the Dark Lord, we need their cooperation."

"But you don't have to whisper to her alone—you could let me and Neville in on it too—"

"Ah, children, long time no see!" Lupin walked in smiling, and Ron fell silent—his petty emotions vanished instantly.

"I imagine most of you still miss the days when I taught you how to defend against dark creatures," Lupin smiled, opening his lesson plan. "But unfortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore believes a professor shouldn't teach the same subject for more than a year—so this term, I'll be teaching you about Muggles."

"Of course, I miss those days too—so this term's theme is: How to guard against hostile Muggles, and how to counter large-scale Muggle weapons." Lupin said. "Now, who can tell me what Muggles' most common weapon is?"

"Guns," Ron blurted out.

"Correct. Guns are very effective weapons—some Aurors even use them as secondary arms. They fire bullets with power roughly equivalent to two-thirds of a Stunning Spell—very dangerous." Lupin explained in his own way. "But most guns can't penetrate the Shield Charm. When facing hostile Muggles, I recommend keeping a Shield Charm active at all times."

"Remember the incantation: Protego. It's our simplest, most effective defense against Muggles. Now I'll explain the key points of casting it—any student struggling with practice can come to me anytime for help…"

Lupin quickly shifted into his familiar territory, turning the second half of the lesson into a practical session, immediately beginning to guide everyone in practicing the Shield Charm.

Until bedtime, Ron's mood remained normal—but once in bed, he couldn't stop overthinking.

"Hey, Harry," Ron whispered through the bed curtain. "Has Ivy mentioned me to you?"

"More than once," Harry answered honestly. "You left a strong impression on her."

"Oh, that's troubling," Ron fell silent for a moment, then continued. "For some reason, I must be enchanted—I think she might like me, but that's not the point. The point is, I've been thinking about Hermione these past two days."

"Yeah, it's weird—you've been distracted all day," Harry said.

"I don't know—if it's because of Malfoy," Ron's voice dropped lower. "Maybe I'm paying attention to Muggle girls precisely because I'm afraid of competing with him… for something he doesn't care about."

"Ron!" Harry was annoyed—he'd assumed Ron was drawn to Hermione by fate's inertia, not this reason.

"If you like Ivy, don't fear any obstacle," Harry said sternly. "What does Malfoy matter? Are you really worse than him?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Ron's tone turned sour.

"Ivy won't care—and on the flip side, you can use Pan Xi to distract Malfoy," Harry instinctively began strategizing. "In love and war, all tactics are fair."

"Yeah, you don't want him touching Ivy," Ron seemed to perk up. "Alright—I think that's the best thing I've heard all day."