"Everyone can give their badges a name—it'll help distinguish them more easily," said Charles Gold.
Professor McGonagall immediately picked up the idea. "I think we should use the traits each House represents. For Gryffindor, Courage would be fitting."
Courage Badge?
Charles raised an eyebrow. For a second, he thought he'd walked into the wrong franchise—maybe Digimon instead of Pokémon. Still, her suggestion wasn't bad, and both Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout agreed with enthusiasm.
Snape, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters. He said nothing, silently expressing his indifference.
The wound he'd received on Halloween night had started worsening—it throbbed faintly beneath his sleeve. He had applied a general antidote, but it hadn't been particularly effective. The special antidote that could neutralize a Three-Headed Dog's venom was still in the process of being brewed.
Right now, all Snape wanted was to return to his office and see if he could improve the standard antidote by incorporating insights from Pokémon biology.
Just yesterday, he had extracted plenty of venom samples from Golbat and Arbok. Through experimentation, he had already discovered that the antidotes commonly used by wizards were far less effective against Pokémon toxins.
That discovery alone opened up an entirely new research field. But realistically, there were many such areas waiting to be explored. Snape had confirmed that Pokémon fur and scales carried unique magical properties—but developing a comprehensive understanding of this entirely new system was slow going for one man.
After all, the current discipline of potion-making had taken thousands of years of collective research by generations of masters.
"Gryffindor's Courage Badge, Hufflepuff's Loyalty Badge, Ravenclaw's Wisdom Badge, and Slytherin's Honor Badge—a fine idea indeed," said Dumbledore with a smile. "As for mine, I shall call it the Magic Badge."
Professor Kettleburn named his the Beast Badge, while Quirinus Quirrell christened his the Fear Badge.
"Gold—there's something I must tell you," Quirrell hesitated for a long moment before finally speaking. "The Gengar you gave me… it seems to have disappeared."
"Disappeared? Are you sure it didn't just refuse to obey you? To make it listen, you only need to defeat it in battle. With your strength, that shouldn't be difficult, should it?"
Charles asked in mock innocence, giving him an encouraging look that practically screamed, You're strong—I believe in you.
But poor Quirrell nearly choked. My own strength? What strength?
He'd outsourced that battle!
He, Quirinus Quirrell, had no such power!
And now he didn't even dare call upon Voldemort for help. The Philosopher's Stone was still far from reach, and the agony of being possessed by the Dark Lord was something he never wanted to experience again.
Forget it, Quirrell thought bitterly. Since my master doesn't really care about Pokémon, there's no point wasting energy on them either.
As long as he could pass the trials Charles had set, that would be enough. Once Voldemort returned, Quirrell would stand proudly as his most loyal servant—with power in his grasp, why would he waste time dealing with animals?
As for guarding a badge? He couldn't care less. If someone wanted it, he'd just hand it over. His goal was not to remain an obscure professor forever.
Harry, dripping with sweat after Quidditch practice, hurried toward the Gryffindor common room.
The moment he pushed open the door, he saw Ron lounging on the sofa, one arm around Houndour, while his Ponyta strutted proudly around the room. The fiery horse's mane of living flame mesmerized the gathered students, who itched to pet it but didn't quite dare.
Since yesterday, Ron had been basking in all the attention. After all, he had managed to capture three Pokémon in one go—two of which were undeniably cool. Even among the entire club, that was nothing short of impressive.
Not far away, Hermione stood with her arms crossed, glaring at him in exasperation.
"What's going on with them?" Harry whispered to Neville as he walked over.
He'd only been at Quidditch practice all morning, and somehow those two had already fallen out again.
"Uh—" Neville furrowed his brow, trying to recall the details. "Hermione said Ron shouldn't have let Ponyta and his other Pokémon out in the common room—they might burn the place down. But Ron insisted they wouldn't."
"That's it?" Harry muttered. This time, he felt Hermione was being a little unreasonable. Pokémon couldn't just stay cooped up in Poké Balls all the time. The cramped space made him think uncomfortably of the cupboard under the stairs at the Dursleys'—his home for eleven long years.
Then again, Professor Gold had said Poké Balls were actually quite comfortable inside…
"Harry!" Ron spotted him and called out excitedly. Instantly, every student in the room turned to look his way, making Harry feel a little awkward.
"How was training?" Ron asked, pulling him aside. Houndour immediately leapt from his arms to bare its teeth at Ponyta.
It still hadn't gotten over losing to it in their last sparring match.
"Not bad," Harry replied vaguely. In truth, he was nervous—Quidditch had too many rules to remember, and he still didn't fully grasp them. Worse, his first official match was coming up soon.
"Maybe this will help," Hermione said, walking over and deliberately ignoring Ron. She handed Harry a book—The Wonder of Quidditch Balls.
"Thanks, Hermione! This is exactly what I needed!" Harry said, his face lighting up.
"You'd better get ready soon," she said briskly. "We'll be heading to the Pokémon Masters Club later."
Harry nodded and rushed upstairs to his dorm. Ron followed close behind.
"Hey, did you hear?" Ron asked conspiratorially.
"Hear what?"
"Malfoy got punished by Snape! He's got to clean the toilets for the entire term!" Ron's grin was practically splitting his face. "From now on, I'm only using the public bathrooms!"
"Seriously?" Harry's eyes widened. That news was even better than getting the Quidditch book.
"I can't believe Snape actually punished Malfoy. My guess? Professor Gold must've threatened him," Ron said eagerly. "Probably pointed his wand right at Snape and said, 'Listen—I will not allow you to insult my students!'"
"Or maybe he just let Pikachu give Snape a good jolt," Harry added, grinning. "Either way, next time we see Malfoy, we can call him Dungface Malfoy!"
"Dungface Malfoy! Hahaha!"
The two burst out laughing as they reached the dormitory. Harry set down his book and grabbed his Poké Balls, getting ready to leave—when a sudden thought struck him.
"Wait—Ron, where's Scabbers?"
Ron froze, blinking blankly. "I… I don't know. I saw him last night, though."
"Forget it. He's probably just hiding in some corner again," Harry said casually. "You know Inferno doesn't like him much."
(End of Chapter)