"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The excited barking reached them the moment they were outside the hut.
"Hagrid, it's me."
Lynn knocked on the heavy door of Hagrid's cabin. A few seconds later, the door swung open and Hagrid greeted him with a wide, beaming smile.
"Lynn! Perfect timing. I just got some spices from the centaurs and was about to owl you to come pick them up."
"Is Harley not with you?"
"She went off to find Hermione and Parvati. Might be in the library right now, for all I know."
"I forgot to give you the hotpot recipe last time. Here, I wrote it down on parchment."
Lynn reached into his pocket for the parchment—and out came the half-snapped piece of chewing gum along with it. Before he could react, Fang (who had been wagging his tail nearby) lunged forward with lightning speed and swallowed it whole.
"Fang! Don't eat random things!"
Lynn grabbed the boarhound's massive head and ruffled it vigorously. "That was chewing gum, you're not supposed to eat that."
"Woof~"
Fang wagged his tail even harder, but when he opened his mouth again, the gum was already gone—down the hatch.
"You absolute glutton."
Lynn gave up with a sigh. With a body like Fang's, one thumb-sized piece of gum wasn't going to hurt him. Chocolate would've been a different story.
"Guess I'll have to throw the other half away. No one's desperate enough to try gum that's been in Fang's mouth… right?"
He reached into his pocket again—only to find the remaining half of the gum had vanished. That surprised him a little.
"Did I drop it somewhere?" He thought about it for a second, then shrugged it off. It was just an opened piece of gum. Even if someone picked it up, they wouldn't actually put it in their mouth… right?
"Oh yeah, Hagrid—do you know where in the forest I can find Grasshoppers and Bouncecaps? I need them for potions, but buying them feels like a waste of money. There should be plenty in the Forbidden Forest, yeah?"
"Those? They're everywhere in the forest." Hagrid scratched his beard. "See those twitching bushes? Grasshoppers live inside them. As for Bouncecaps, look under the trees—especially the ones with rocks around the base. There're loads near the forest edge. Professor Sprout sometimes brings students to pick them too."
"But remember—no going inside the forest. Stay right at the edge."
"If you need anything else for potions, I can grab it for you. Or I could ask the centaurs—they're happy to trade for meat, and I've got plenty of that."
Hagrid was a genuinely kind person. He didn't have many friends who were willing to spend time with him, so he was exceptionally generous to a young wizard like Lynn whose personality he really clicked with.
"That's all right, no need to trouble you. Most potion ingredients I can just buy, and they're not expensive."
Lynn didn't want to impose on Hagrid unless it was something money really couldn't solve easily. Just because Hagrid was nice to him didn't mean he should take advantage of the man's good nature.
"I'll go gather the herbs then. When I get back I'm planning to brew a few potions."
"Off you go, then." Hagrid waved cheerfully. He had a soft spot for hardworking, studious kids. "I've already started on those cloaks for you lot. Still need about two weeks to properly cure the hides, but they'll definitely be ready before the first snow. Remember to come try them on together when they're done—make sure they fit."
"We'll definitely come!"
Lynn waved goodbye and headed lightly toward the forest edge.
With his telekinesis, he didn't even need a net. Grasshoppers in the undergrowth practically leapt into his hands, and although Bouncecaps hopped away when startled, none could escape his reach. Along the edge he also found quite a few other magical plants that might come in handy later. The Forbidden Forest truly was a treasure trove.
The sheer joy of getting all this for free made Lynn lose track of time. Even with the soul of an adult inside him, being in such a magical world still sparked a childlike delight he couldn't suppress.
It was like how a thirty-year-old man can still love building with LEGO—only now instead of simple houses, he built complicated models. No matter how exhausting work was, he'd still happily spend two hours at home after getting back, right up until his back started aching.
He didn't know how long he'd been at it, but eventually the sky began to dim. Lynn reluctantly brushed off his robes and stood up.
His four-dimensional pocket was practically overflowing with harvested potion ingredients—just a bit of simple processing and these lovely plants would turn into shiny silver Sickles clinking into his pocket.
Humming a little tune, Lynn returned to the entrance of Hogwarts Castle in the blink of an eye. He could already hear the chatter of young witches and wizards ahead—the Great Hall was open for dinner. Behind him, smoke was rising from Hagrid's chimney.
The moment he reached the Gryffindor table, a rather smug boasting voice rang out.
"Thirteen in a row! I just beat thirteen people straight!" Ron's face was glowing with pride. "I told you I'm brilliant at this. Wizard's chess is hard, Seamus, but to be really good at it you need talent. It's not some advanced… uh… advanced skill you can pick up just by studying."
Seamus, whose shoulders Ron had slung an arm around, looked like he was seriously regretting buying that wizard's chess set in Diagon Alley. Ever since Ron beat him, the redhead had been talking his ear off for at least half an hour—supposedly "teaching" him how to play—yet not a single useful tip had come out of his mouth. Just pure gloating.
Lynn wasn't particularly interested in chess, but as he passed by, Ron suddenly raised an eyebrow at him in a weirdly meaningful way. Lynn had no idea what that was about, but he politely nodded anyway.
"Lynn, over here!"
Harley's voice called out. She waved at him from across the table. Cho was also sitting at the Gryffindor table tonight, whispering with her best friend Marietta. The girls seemed to have spent the afternoon together; each of them was wearing a colorful bracelet made of tiny round stones.
"Where'd you disappear to this afternoon?"
As Lynn circled the long table and sat down beside Harley, she happily leaned toward him. "We went to do some constellation divination this afternoon! Cho was amazing at it. We even made constellation bracelets—look, aren't they pretty?"
Harley proudly stretched out her arm to show Lynn her bracelet. The little stones were connected by threads in a pattern that formed her star sign when put together.
"Cho made one for you too, you know. She's really nice to you, huh?"
Harley giggled mischievously and elbowed him.
"She made it especially for you~"
"Harley!"
Cho, sitting nearby, couldn't stand it anymore. Her cheeks flushed slightly. She leaned across Lynn, grabbed Harley's cheeks, and started squishing them like dough.
"I was wrong~"
Harley blinked up at her with big pitiful eyes, but the moment Cho let go she was grinning again. "So when are you going to give your precious gift to Lynn?"
"Ooh~ I get it, you want to wait until after dinner and give it to him as a surprise, right?"
"I take it back, Cho—but I'd definitely do it again."
Cho couldn't help but laugh at Harley's cheeky expression. She really couldn't stay mad—Harley somehow managed to be annoyingly cute at the same time.
Still, she pretended to be angry and played along. "Why?"
"Since when does the girl have to make the first move? Lynn's just too dense."
"Since when do you worry about my love life?"
Lynn flicked Harley lightly on the forehead and shook his head with a helpless smile.
"Can't we just go with the setting where I'm an incredibly handsome guy and it's totally normal for girls to throw themselves at me?"
"Wow. I can't believe someone can be that shameless."
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