Chapter 50: Sprouting

After being selected for the school team, Harry found that his life became busy. He finished his homework in a hurry on Saturday afternoon, and before he had time to investigate the "bad luck" Zhang Qiu encountered, he received news that the team had to continue training at night.

On Sunday afternoon, the pitch was used by Ravenclaw, but Wood still gathered the team together to discuss tactics and review the game with them. Harry mixed in with the players. He was still confused, but under the repeated theoretical indoctrination, he also started to gradually understand some.

When he dragged his broom back to the dormitory after finishing the night training again, he suddenly woke up. Not to mention investigating the bad luck this weekend, even the homework was written very perfunctorily.

In a new Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Donald continued to let the students run laps and then duel. It's just that this time, he let Harry, Luo En, and Neville practice against each other, and he didn't make a move himself.

Harry soon found that Neville's strength was very strong, so he and Luo En decided to cooperate, and Neville was also very happy to challenge himself. The three of them fought back and forth, which was also very exciting, attracting the attention of many classmates.

"Very good, now everyone stop." Near the end of the class, Donald called a halt to the practical practice. He said loudly, "Before class ends, I have one thing to announce, that is, I want to set up a Dueling Club to explain higher-level defensive knowledge to students who are determined to continue to improve themselves. Of course, only those who perform well enough in class will be invited. The club meets on Monday and Thursday nights, and the location is the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

Harry was of course very interested in this club, but Wood told him that he must participate in the team's collective training on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, so he was a bit conflicted.

"In this class, Luo En and Neville's performance was very outstanding. I hereby formally invite you to join my Dueling Club." Donald didn't mention Harry, which made him feel stunned.

Luo En was a bit excited, while Neville looked very calm, but they both agreed to this matter.

In the evening, Luo En was ready to go out

"Hello, Harry." A greeting came, and Harry subconsciously looked up, only to discover it was Ma Erfu.

Ma Erfu and Pan Xi had come together; they sat down at the same table, wearing smiles of uncertain sincerity.

"Is there something you need?" Harry's tone was somewhat stiff.

"We have come to apologize for what happened last Saturday," Ma Erfu said with a smile. "Pan Xi attacked your friend Luo Nade, and she regretted it as soon as she went back. It's just that girls can be a bit shy, which is why she only came today."

"Then shouldn't you also go find Luo Nade to apologize?" Harry always felt this person had ill intentions.

"For good friends like you, there isn't much difference," Ma Erfu said softly. "Pure-blood families are connected by the same branches; although the Wei Silai family's philosophy is not quite the same as ours, everyone flows with similar bloodlines. We should seek common ground while reserving differences and live in harmony. I have already criticized Pan Xi."

Harry glanced at the girl; she seemed to trust Ma Erfu very much.

"Oh, right, let me formally introduce her," Malfoy said. "This is my good friend, Pansy Parkinson."

*Parkinson is a disease, * Harry thought strangely.

Seeing Harry had no reaction, he added, "Parkinson is also one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

Harry brought his thoughts back to reality. Although Ma Erfu's words were still full of pure-blood superiority, his attitude was fairly sincere, so Harry softened his expression and said with a fake smile, "Alright, it's nice to meet you, Pan Xi. This is my friend Zhang Qiu; she is one year ahead of us."

"The Zhang family, an ancient pure-blood noble family from the East," Ma Erfu introduced to Pan Xi. "Their family has many formidable curse-breakers."

"There is a saying in the Celestial Empire: one does not strike a person who is smiling," Zhang Qiu said indifferently. "It means that since you have apologized sincerely, this matter can be set aside, and we can still be friends."

Harry instinctively felt that the string of Chinese didn't seem to mean that, but he was accustomed to Zhang Qiu's indirect and cryptic way of being sarcastic; she called this "yin-yang mockery."

Pan Xi's eyes lit up, and she said, "Actually, I admire Senior Zhang very much; your actions have deeply inspired me."

"How is this happening?" Zhang Qiu was a bit confused. It was normal for Harry to have fans, but how could someone worship her?

"I heard that on the first day of school, you took the initiative to cross carriages to find Harry, which was very brave," Pan Xi said. "I didn't dare to talk to Ma Erfu much before, but after hearing your story, I thought, if you could even become, um, friends with Harry, then there's no reason Ma Erfu and I couldn't succeed, right?"

"That was thanks to my Master's teaching," Zhang Qiu said with habitual modesty, then asked with some confusion, "However, what do you mean by 'even'?"

"You are different ages, in different houses, and from different families," Pan Xi whispered. "No matter how I think about it, it seems impossible, but you two are, um... on good terms."

"Why are you stammering?" Harry felt something was wrong. "What was it you originally wanted to say?"

Pan Xi glanced at Ma Erfu, blushed, and whispered, "Nothing, it's just, it's just..."

"Just a match," Ma Erfu said with a smile. "Just like Cui Ge said."

Compared to Cui Ge calling it the "best match," perhaps the meaning of this phrase was "barely a match," Harry thought to himself.

"You two are on good terms with Cui Ge?" Zhang Qiu, seeing the conversation cooling, casually threw out a question.

"That's right, we are taking turns using that notebook," Ma Erfu said. "This is also one of the reasons I came to see you today. I think you and Zhang Qiu could join in."

"What do you mean?"

"That notebook is very useful; it can answer a great many questions for us, and the side effect is only a little bit of energy. Of course, out of caution, every time we rotate, we do it in pairs—two people using it together, supervising each other to avoid excessive consumption."

Harry remembered the last time Cui Ge brought the notebook to find him; Lu Na was right by his side. Perhaps Cui Ge and Lu Na were the first pair.

"Must it be a boy and a girl in a pair?" Zhang Qiu asked with some curiosity.

"That's not it, it's just that it happens to be..." Ma Erfu didn't quite know how to say it. He paused before saying, "It just happens that the first two pairs were like that."

"Alright, would you mind letting me try it out?" Zhang Qiu said.

"No problem." Ma Erfu generously fished the tattered diary out of his robes.

The diary was still the same: a wrinkled cover, a signature on the title page, and the inside was entirely blank.

Zhang Qiu slowly wrote: "Tang Mu, what do you know about the ominous black dog?"

A line of handwriting slowly emerged: "The ravings of a diviner, no need to take them seriously."

Zhang Qiu frowned, and she wrote again: "I heard there is a magical creature called the Hound of Tindalos; do you know it?"

Beautiful flowing script appeared again: "I have not heard of it, but you can tell me more about it."

Zhang Qiu shook her head. She put the pen back into the ink bottle and said disappointedly, "This diary is of little use to me."

Ma Erfu was a bit embarrassed. He added, "After all, this is a British magical artifact; perhaps you could try asking him about things in the school."

"No need." Harry waved his hand. "Who can't I ask about things in school? I'd rather save my energy for Quidditch training."

"Actually, you can also chat with him about life," Pan Xi interjected. "I wasn't very comfortable coming to apologize at first, but Tang Mu encouraged me, saying that if you make a mistake, you must correct it in time."

"That's right, he also said that good things should naturally be shared with friends, and he has also shared quite a bit of knowledge about Quidditch," Ma Erfu echoed. "Harry, although we are opponents on the pitch, that doesn't stop us from becoming friends in private and working together toward a noble goal."

"Just like Tang Mu said," Pan Xi said. "To recast the glory of the pure-bloods, it is our duty."

"What a perfect case of 'the husband sings and the wife follows'," Zhang Qiu sneered. As long as the matter of Voldemort remained unresolved, she had no position to trust Ma Erfu.

"Uh, what she means is," Harry felt her sarcasm was a bit obvious and tried to remedy it, "the way you two talk is just like a married couple; it's quite interesting."

Taking advantage of the moment Ma Erfu and Pan Xi blushed and dodged each other's gazes, Harry said, "We really don't need the notebook; perhaps you could find someone else."

"By the way, Hermione usually sits at that table." Zhang Qiu pointed into the distance, where a little witch with bushy hair was indeed hunched over, writing furiously.

Hearing this name, a flash of disgust appeared on Ma Erfu's face. He said, "Another day; I just remembered we have something else to do."

"Yes, let's head back; they must be getting impatient," Pan Xi explained vaguely. Then, pulling on the corner of Ma Erfu's robe, the two hurried out of the library.

"How funny," Zhang Qiu said coldly. "They have more to apologize for than just that Slug Curse."

"Yes, but I'm still thinking about another thing," Harry said. "It looks like they rotate once a week. Last week it was Cui Ge and Lu Na; this week it's Ma Erfu and Pan Xi. The common point is that every time they get the notebook, they excitedly run over to recommend it to me. This is really quite strange."

"Could it be that you think the notebook is instigating them to do this?"

"I do have that suspicion, but after all, Tang Nade said there was nothing wrong with this notebook..." Harry hesitated.

"Not necessarily; perhaps Tang Nade also has a problem," Zhang Qiu analyzed. "Perhaps the notebook is just Tang Nade's tool, and he intends to achieve some goal through it."