Chapter 408: Mirror Disappears

Time slipped away slowly, the delicious desserts and casual topics were gradually enjoyed, and the children began to say goodbye one by one with satisfied smiles. Harry stayed behind, and Draco saw the hidden seriousness in his eyes, so his smile began to stiffen.

"What's the matter, Harry?" When only three people were left in the room, Draco asked hesitantly.

"Not a big deal," Harry's mindset was still relatively relaxed. "I hope you can set a time to spar with Ron, exchange ideas, and make progress together."

"Me and Ron?" Draco's face didn't look good. "Do you think I can beat him?"

"You think you can't beat him?" Harry frowned. Why do they all have the problem of lacking confidence?

"It's like this, he brings a sword with him as soon as he transforms," Draco said distressingly. "But I'm empty-handed."

"But letting Ron spar with you empty-handed wouldn't be of much help to his strength..." Harry pondered. "Maybe a better way is to help you find a precious sword too."

"I actually wrote a letter to ask the mysterious person who provided me with the Rider system after seeing Ron before," Draco said stammeringly. "He told me that Cross-Z has a weapon, also a precious sword, but it requires me to concentrate to give it form... a bit like Transfiguration, but it must be used after transforming."

"Honestly, this technique is quite difficult. I haven't learned it yet, emotional outbursts, magic flow, etc." After Draco frankly admitted his shortcomings, his tone began to become natural. "How about we talk about sparring after I master this move?"

Harry rubbed his eyebrows. He also understood Draco's mental journey a bit. During this period, he seemed very well-behaved, so well-behaved that he almost forgot he still had a belt. The main reason was that he knew he couldn't beat Ron, so he had to bury his head in hard practice while trying to lower his presence, thinking about luckily not letting Harry remember him, so as to avoid being beaten up by Ron in the name of sparring.

"Or, Harry," Pan Xi said softly, "would you be willing to share some techniques and provide some help to Draco?"

This question stumped Harry. After hesitating for a long time, he finally sighed.

"Since you are so frank, I won't be mysterious either," Harry clasped his hands, leaned forward, and said in a very sincere and relieved tone, "To tell you the truth, I still haven't found a way to transform."

"Sigh, as expected, you still don't want to say—" Draco also sighed. "Clearly you have reached such a high danger level, yet you are still tight-lipped. Is it because your Rider form is inconvenient to talk about?"

"What do you mean by such a high danger level?" Harry himself was confused now.

"That bludger you hit," Draco spread his hands. "Being able to exert power close to the Rider form without transforming is definitely a performance with a danger level exceeding 5. I was wondering if you had evolved one of your bottles into a Fullbottle."

"No, no, that was an accident," Harry explained helplessly. "Didn't Madam Hooch say it was just an ordinary magical riot? There have been precedents in Quidditch history—"

"But the beater in history had been training his hitting power in large quantities, and you just transformed this year," Draco said with a puzzled face. "We insiders don't lie to insiders, Harry. I can't figure out why you must deny your Rider power."

"It's okay, Harry must have his reasons," Pan Xi stopped Draco, who seemed to be getting anxious. "Maybe he's worried that if he's too strong, he won't be able to train Ron."

Harry really didn't know how to describe this pair at the moment. They could always interpret Harry's behavior from an unusual angle, and always misinterpret his sincere words as having ulterior motives. Perhaps it was because they were used to not telling the truth? This was probably what Zhang Qiu called "measuring a gentleman's belly with a villain's heart"!

"Or, how about," Draco said cautiously, "you just share how you hit that ball?"

"To be honest, I don't know very well myself," Harry instinctively wanted to deny it, but suddenly he realized that this topic might be helpful for him to break through Occlumency and complete the transformation, so he turned the conversation back. "Just recalling it, there was a very firm feeling at that time. I said to myself, this ball must be hit well."

"Actually, even if it wasn't hit well, at most it would lose a game, and it might not even lose," Harry kept recalling. "But at that moment, I just felt, I must do it."

"Could it be a sense of responsibility, a sense of belief?" Pan Xi summarized. "You feel that you are the key person to turn the tide, and it must be achieved by you. It seems this kind of thing is quite common for you, so it became second nature?"

Harry nodded slightly. He had been experiencing these things since entering the Wizarding World, and this seemed to be exactly what Draco and even Ron lacked.

"Anything else?" Draco looked at him with burning eyes. "When you really hit it, or rather, the moment before hitting the ball, what did it feel like?"

"The feeling was quite strange at the time. It seemed that the whole body was very relaxed, and then it seemed that all the strength of the whole body was concentrated on the right hand. That's about it," Harry tried hard to recall.

"Could it be a flow of magic power..." Draco pondered.

"But I think the first part of the impression is more important," Harry adjusted his sitting posture. "Do you have this kind of thought, that is, at a certain moment, you must do something to protect something you don't want to give up no matter what?"

Or is it that the hypocritical and selfish Young Master Malfoy has never had such a thing? This was the second half of the sentence Harry didn't say.

Sure enough, this question successfully stumped Draco. He fell into deep thought, while Harry just looked at him with a cryptic smile.

"Alright, I'll go back and practice hard. I feel I have a clue," after a brief silence, Draco seemed to react, busy bringing out polite words to protect himself. "It should have an effect soon. Once I master the technique of taking out the sword, I will definitely tell you the first time, and then we will set a time for sparring."

It seems the conversation ends here. Harry left a polite farewell and began to walk toward his dormitory.

At the beginning of the journey, Harry naturally reflected on why he couldn't acquire the transformation ability following the previous topic, but soon he thought of another thing, which was the consideration of Zhang Qiu and the Tianchao people.

From the rational, Tianchao think-tank perspective, if they need to cultivate the strongest Rider for Britain, then Ron, who is simple-minded, impulsive, and has a foundation in swordsmanship and has received corresponding training, is undoubtedly the best candidate. And from Zhang Qiu or Harry's selfish perspective, they also hope to see Ron achieve something and not appear to be behind in everything. They all still remember that the one sentence that made Ron truly turn love into hate for Elena was "You only rely on your Minister father or Savior friend." Ron is very eager to prove himself in a certain field, and the current Kamen Rider is exactly the field for Ron to prove himself.

So, from this perspective, Harry thinks he doesn't need to and shouldn't perform too well in the matter of Rider transformation. Obviously, Zhang Qiu thinks so too. After all, she only brought one belt when she came for the first time.

After returning to the dormitory, seeing Ron with his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling, Harry plans to try to adjust his mindset again.

"Draco chickened out, he said he wanted to practice more, it's hilarious," Harry patted him easily. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much, I just feel a bit empty," Ron muttered. "The mirror is gone."

"Mirror? Are you talking about the Mirror of Erised?" Harry was stunned for a moment. "Who took it away? Snape? Why would he do that?"

"Who knows, sigh," Ron sighed. "Neville said, if what you see in the Mirror of Erised is your goal, then you should put down the mirror and strive to achieve it."

"Seems to make sense," Harry turned his head subconsciously. He noticed Neville was sitting on the bed, holding a book.

"Grandmother once said that some things must be protected even if you are an enemy of the whole world," Neville said lightly. "Those who can be called heroes can see those things in the mirror."

"Ah, ah," Harry felt Neville's mindset was also a bit wrong. "Then did you two just go to see the mirror?"

"That's right, but actually on the way there, I already had the answer in my heart," Neville closed the book in his hand, sitting straight. "Perhaps this is the reason Snape took away the mirror. Since I crave an answer, I should face that answer directly—I want to go to the Department of Mysteries."

Harry's focus shifted to Neville instantly. "Then how do you plan to go?"

"This is what I want to ask you for help with," Neville said sincerely. "Whether it's using the TARDIS, finding staff, or even sneaking in, I definitely want to go see it, to see if the thing Dumbledore finally wanted to tell me is just as I thought."

"The TARDIS has been returned, Tonks doesn't seem to want to be a doctor yet," Harry glanced guiltily at the jumping pot on top of the cabinet. "As for sneaking in, that might be a bit dangerous."

"Perhaps this matter can be found by Donna... or I'll just find Snape," Harry swallowed hard. "He shouldn't refuse?"

"I've looked for him once. But if it's for your sake, maybe he will loosen up," Neville nodded. "Trouble you, thank you very much."

"Alright," Harry nodded. The beetle pin had almost become a heart disease for Neville. Before, the situation was tense and he didn't dare to act rashly. Now that it was mentioned, he decided to solve this matter.

This seemed to have played a bit of encouragement for Ron, and his expression became less dull. ===== CHAPTER 409 =====