[Bonus for Powerstones!♥]
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In the Library.
Wade and Tom found a table by the window.
Tom's quill flew across the parchment, making a soft rustling sound.
For him, the Transfiguration essay was relatively easy.
Sigh...
Of course, it would've been even better if the person next to him weren't noisily flipping through pages, making a ruckus that disrupted his concentration...
"Could you be quiet? Flipping pages that fast—besides distracting me from writing, what exactly are you even reading?" Tom said irritably.
Wade didn't stop flipping pages; in fact, he went even faster.
"You don't get it. This is called the Quantum Reading Method!"
"The what now?"
"The Quantum.. hah.. never mind. Can you just stop bothering me? I'm trying to read here!"
Tom threw down his quill. "Who's bothering who here?!"
Forget this blasted essay! I can't write like this—absolutely impossible! Whoever wants to write it can go ahead!
"Alright, I'm done reading. You take your time with the essay," Wade said as he closed the notebook Professor Slughorn had given him.
Thanks to his strong memory, he had already committed the main contents to mind after carefully flipping through it once.
"Where are you going?" Tom asked with a frown.
"Well, I finished the book, naturally it's time to handle other things."
"You're not writing your essay?"
"What's the rush? It's not due until next week, right? If you've never crammed an assignment at the last minute, can you even say you've been to school?"
"..."
Watching Wade's back as he walked out of the library, Tom let out a helpless sigh. "Utterly ridiculous…"
No doubt Wade had something on his mind; their conversation just now had been pure filler, completely devoid of meaning.
Tom suspected Wade didn't even register what he'd been saying.
Could it be related to that Anne Rosier?
Tom narrowed his eyes thoughtfully…
…
Fu~ fu~ fu~~
Wade walked briskly through the corridors of Hogwarts, silently memorizing the route beneath his feet as he went.
At the same time, Wade committed to memory the position of every single painting and statue in the corridor.
Wizarding world paintings weren't just static decorations; the figures inside them could move, talk, and even hop between frames. It wasn't unusual at all.
Which meant that any character in any painting could serve as someone else's eyes—like surveillance cameras.
So, if Wade wanted to keep his little secrets, then during his upcoming nighttime explorations, he'd need to avoid not only patrolling professors but also being seen by any of these paintings.
The Disillusionment Charm wasn't perfect invisibility either. While moving, one's outline could still be faintly seen.
That meant he'd have to move slowly in areas where paintings were present.
If only he had that Invisibility Cloak from the Potter family…
Thanks to his excellent memory, Wade only needed to wander through a place once to remember it.
So by the time evening rolled around and he arrived in the Great Hall for dinner, he had already memorized most of the visible routes throughout Hogwarts.
It was like he'd built a model of the castle inside his head.
"Oh! By Merlin's beard! Wade! Where have you been all day? I've been looking for you all afternoon!" Anne asked the moment she saw him.
During the day, she had walked around the castle with Wade, but somehow—she wasn't quite sure how—she must have gotten distracted for just a moment, and when she snapped out of it, Wade was already gone...
After that, no matter where she looked, she couldn't find him anywhere.
It wasn't until he appeared at the Slytherin table for dinner that she finally saw him again.
Wade immediately put on his signature smile. "Ah, Anne, it's so good to see you again... I must say, Hogwarts Castle is really something. I turned around for just a second, and you were gone. I've also been looking for you all afternoon and still couldn't find you. Who knew the castle was actually that big?"
His words left Anne momentarily stunned. Wasn't that supposed to be her line?
She had actually spent the whole afternoon looking for him!
All she could say was, "I see… As long as you're okay. I was worried you might've fallen into some strange place. My father told me Hogwarts is full of hidden chambers."
"Hidden chambers?" Wade asked suddenly. "Do you know where any of them are?"
"Uh..." Anne was caught off guard. She didn't actually know any hidden chamber locations—she had just been talking off the top of her head.
"My father didn't tell me. Maybe he knows though..." Anne said.
"Ow.. That's a real shame. If there are hidden chambers, I'd really love to go take a look. Wouldn't you agree, Tom?" Wade said with a smile, turning to Tom beside him.
Tom, who was currently peeling a boiled egg for Nagini, looked up, confused. "You're talking about secret chambers—why are you suddenly dragging me into it?"
Wade chuckled. "I'm just curious. You think, when the Four Founders built Hogwarts, is it possible they left behind secret chambers? Maybe hiding personal treasures?"
Anne said, "You know, that actually sounds plausible! Especially Salazar Slytherin. He had a falling out with the others and left Hogwarts in the end. He might really have left something behind."
Wade glanced at her in surprise, momentarily unsure whether she knew more than she was letting on, or if she'd just guessed really well.
"Even if he did leave something behind, what's it got to do with us?" Tom muttered. "It's not like it'll help me learn more magic, or make me stronger…"
"What if what he left behind was a magic manuscript or something like a grimoire?" Wade said with a gleam in his eye.
"Hmm... if it's something like that, then it would be interesting," Tom admitted, a flicker of interest rising in his eyes. "But the wizarding world has developed so much since then. Any spells he left might not even compare to modern magic."
Wade gasped in mock shock. "Tom, you're being so rational right now, it's honestly a little unsettling."
"I've always been perfectly clear-headed, Wade," Tom said flatly, placing the two peeled eggs in front of Nagini's dish. "Hiss hiss hiss… (Eat up.)"
Anne stared at him in surprise. "Were you just… talking to that snake?"
"Yeah. Why?" Tom asked, his tone indifferent as ever toward this obviously suspicious girl.
"You don't know?" Anne said excitedly. "Salazar Slytherin could speak Parseltongue! It's said that his descendants can too. Tom, could it be… are you related to Slytherin by blood?"
"!!!" Tom's usually emotionless eyes suddenly lit up with a strange gleam upon hearing those words.
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