Chapter 277: Complex Coursework and Emotional Lestrange
After Draco left, Hermione looked at Harry and told him about what she had experienced.
"Harry, Lavender told me last night..." Hermione described the situation in their dormitory to Harry.
"Hmph, you surely said bad things about me for the sake of dormitory harmony," Harry said with a frown.
"Harry, don't take your frustration about your parents out on your friends. Ron and I are both supporting you!"
"Sorry..." Harry felt very guilty.
"It's okay!" Hermione said, her expression serious.
The two urgent voices intertwined, but their friendship wasn't affected by this.
Meanwhile, the show-off Draco continued his bullying behaviour until he saw a figure wearing a broad wizard hat from behind.
"Well, well, look who this is. Ravenclaw's Rose. You're so popular but still didn't become a prefect?"
Draco's confidence soared as he approached what seemed like easy prey, unknowingly walking into a trap far beyond his comprehension.
Aiden looked up and gave Draco a sweet smile.
Then the entirety of Hogwarts began to disintegrate. Draco and his followers were brought by Aiden into a completely real dream.
"Could you say that again, Prefect Brother?" A certain old dragon acted cute.
"I... I..." Several people felt the powerful magic and were frightened speechless.
"So then, may I ask this Prefect Brother, what should students who did wrong things do?" The dragon brought his face close to Draco's.
"Very... sorry, please forgive me." Lowering his head, admitting fault, and apologising, all in one fluid motion.
Snap! A finger snap echoed throughout the space, and the next moment Draco found himself back at Hogwarts.
Draco and his group had fallen to the ground, still hugging each other, while the young wizards around them were pointing and whispering.
With O.W.L.s approaching, the coursework pressure for fifth years became incredibly heavy.
The first day of school consisted of two Charms classes and two Care of Magical Creatures classes.
Professor Flitwick stood on a platform built from books and spent fifteen minutes giving all the students an O.W.L.s pep talk.
"This lesson, we'll review the Summoning Charm. Based on past experience, this spell should be required on this year's exam."
Professor Flitwick's attitude toward the Summoning Charm was: this test point is required anyway and worth 20 points. Love it or leave it.
After Charms class ended, Professor Flitwick assigned everyone a long essay, leaving every young wizard exhausted.
Even the subsequent Care of Magical Creatures class lacked enthusiasm for learning, making Professor Grubbly-Plank wonder if her teaching wasn't as good as Hagrid's.
At noon, when Aiden was carrying books to the Great Hall for lunch, he encountered two drained people and one energetic witch.
"What happened to those two?" Aiden asked.
"They were playing games during History of Magic class, so I decided to refuse to lend them my notes!" Hermione said, crossing her arms.
"No, actually it was the Calming Draught in Potions class. We failed at brewing it, and Snape made us drink the whole thing," Ron answered weakly.
Aiden reached out and placed his hand on Ron's shoulder, letting magic seep into his body to examine him.
"Hmm, trace toxins and a sense of lethargy. I estimate you tried to save time when adding ingredients and didn't preheat the cauldron, plus the daylily grass juice wasn't cleaned out properly."
When Aiden mentioned toxins, a flash of worry appeared in Hermione's eyes.
"It's fine. They should recover in about an hour. Let them learn their lesson during this time," Aiden said, winking his right eye.
"Hmph." After hearing this, Hermione snorted and walked directly into the hall.
"Well then, goodbye." Aiden waved at his cousin and also went inside.
"Wait, Aiden, save us!" Ron's weak cry didn't win back his cousin's love.
But it did summon heavy blows from two older brothers.
The twins appeared from behind and gave each of them a hit.
What was meant to be a friendly pat directly knocked both of them down.
"Oh, looks like little Ronny got drained," George said, stroking his chin.
"Was it that witch named Parvati?" Fred said, raising his eyebrows at Ron.
"Aiden..." Harry, who had been poisoned silly and thus had reflexes stretched to the heavens, called for help.
"Oh, Aiden won't work," the twins said in unison.
The twins exchanged a smile, left the two outside, and walked into the hall themselves.
Due to Aiden's course selection, his afternoon was actually quite relaxed.
He found time to practise magic in the Room of Requirement for a while, attended Divination class, and dealt with Trelawney using unfortunate futures. The entire afternoon passed like this.
At dinner, the young Gryffindor wizards seemed to be discussing Harry's deeds.
"Mr. Know-It-All, what's the situation on their side?" Aiden asked.
"Show some respect. Right now I'm a..." Edmund also wanted to put on airs.
But when Aiden's cold hand was placed on his neck, he immediately became obedient.
"They say Harry Potter openly defied Professor Umbridge in class and wildly proclaimed the Dark Lord's return. He might be crazy," Edmund said.
"So, how does young Master Lestrange view this matter?" Aiden said, deliberately changing his form of address.
"He's back, no doubt about it. According to Lestrange intelligence, the recent movements of dark wizards are very abnormal, though we don't know why that person hasn't made a high-profile comeback."
Edmund used the wrong approach but reached the correct conclusion.
"Then why are you still staying here? Aren't you afraid that woman in Azkaban might be released?" Aiden said.
"My father recommended I transfer, and most of our clan members have already returned to Paris, but I... I smell a strange scent here. It's the eve of a storm." Edmund frowned.
"The Lestrange family has this ability?" Aiden said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, because of a prophecy, each of my ancestors could keenly grasp the signs of change and participate in it. Rodolphus Lestrange, my cousin, though his end wasn't great, did indeed gain power when the mysterious person rose to prominence," Edmund said.
"So, are you planning to join Voldemort?" Aiden's words carried deeper meaning.
"No, he won't be the victor, though this is just my intuition," Edmund said.
"Your father trusts you and stays with you based solely on your intuition?" Aiden asked with some surprise.
"We Lestranges are ruled by emotion rather than logic. Our hearts guide our choices, not our heads."
Edmund spread butter on his bread, took a bite, then continued:
"This emotionality has caused us great trouble, leading some family members to always indulge in dark magic and often turn against each other. Sometimes I really feel there might be some kind of destiny that allows us Lestranges to barely survive until now."
"Perhaps," Aiden said, also picking up his steak and beginning to eat.