The day before the start of term, Wade carried his suitcase to Diagon Alley.

He bought the ingredients for Potions at the apothecary, new robes from Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, and finally his new textbooks from Flourish and Blotts.

However, something seemed rather off about the atmosphere inside Flourish and Blotts.

The manager had a dark expression on his face, while one of the assistants was clutching an injured arm, looking as though he had just been bitten by a dog.

“Hogwarts?”

The manager looked at Wade irritably.

“Here to buy your new textbooks?”

Wade nodded and handed over his book list.

The manager’s expression became even darker after reading it.

He handed the list to the assistant behind him.

“Go get these books.”

“Does that include that one?”

The assistant asked nervously.

The manager glanced at his injured arm, and his mood became even worse.

He really couldn’t let this assistant keep doing the job.

The medical expenses and compensation were minor matters. If he forced the employee to resign, however, it would damage Flourish and Blotts’ reputation.

“Forget it. I’ll do it myself.”

The assistant immediately looked relieved and turned toward one of the bookshelves.

The manager, meanwhile, put on a pair of thick gloves, grabbed a walking stick, and headed toward a large iron cage.

Inside were hundreds of books with green covers and golden lettering on their spines.

The Monster Book of Monsters.

The manager took a deep breath.

Using his walking stick, he hooked one of the copies of The Monster Book of Monsters and dragged it out of the cage.

But he didn’t let his guard down.

Instead, he became even more cautious.

Suddenly, the book began moving rapidly toward him, snapping open and shut repeatedly.

Chomp, chomp, chomp!

The sound of its pages biting down was unmistakable.

The manager waited for the right moment before suddenly lunging forward.

With both thick-gloved hands, he firmly pinned the cover down, preventing the book from flapping around and biting him.

“Rope! Get me a rope!”

Before Wade could do anything, the assistant returned carrying a stack of books and immediately handed him a rope.

The manager used it to tie the book tightly.

Once it realized it could no longer fight back, The Monster Book of Monsters finally calmed down.

“That book actually bites people?”

“Don’t even mention it. My biggest regret is stocking these things.

“The Invisible Book of Invisibility was ridiculous enough, but at least all it did was disappear.

“The Monster Book of Monsters is a complete disaster.”

The moment he finished speaking, two copies of The Monster Book of Monsters inside the cage suddenly started fighting.

They viciously bit and tore at each other, ripping pages off one by one.

“Stop! Stop it!”

The manager hurriedly thrust his walking stick through the bars and viciously beat the books until he managed to separate them.

“The professor teaching Care of Magical Creatures this year might not be particularly reliable.”

The assistant shook his head.

“Anyone who uses books like these as textbooks must be very...”

He paused.

“Wild.

“Yes, extremely wild.”

Wade didn’t pay much attention to their complaints.

“How much are these books?”

“Twelve Galleons.”

Damn! Is this daylight robbery?

Wade cursed inwardly, but he still handed over the twelve Galleons.

After buying all his textbooks, he had only two Galleons and three Sickles left.

Unless he touched his emergency funds, those few coins would be his entire spending money for the semester.

He would probably be only slightly richer than Ron Weasley.

When Wade returned to the Leaky Cauldron, he immediately spent the three Sickles.

Tom placed a generous lunch in front of him.

“Wade, Hogwarts starts tomorrow. If you want to stay here tonight, I still have a private room available.”

“No need.”

Wade picked up his fork and speared a piece of roast meat.

He probably wouldn’t be staying at the Leaky Cauldron again after this.

Just then, he heard someone call his name.

He instinctively turned around and saw Hermione and Ron approaching.

“What a coincidence. You’re staying at the Leaky Cauldron too?”

“Too?”

“My family and I just got back from our trip, so we’re all staying here tonight.

“Oh, Harry’s here too.”

“That really is quite a coincidence. But I won’t be staying at the Leaky Cauldron.

“I’m only here to buy some things and wait for someone.”

“Is that so?”

Hermione looked slightly disappointed.

“Where did you go during the holidays? I wrote you several letters before I went to France, but I never received a reply. I even tried calling you, but you didn’t answer.”

“Uh... it’s normal that you couldn’t find me.

“On the first day of the holidays, I borrowed a batch of books on alchemy and Potions from a pure-blood wizarding family. Then I traveled while studying.

“I only returned to London a few days ago. After finishing my holiday homework, I came to Diagon Alley to buy my third-year textbooks.”

“Which two subjects did you choose?”

Ron asked curiously.

“Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.”

“Harry and I both chose Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.”

“I chose all of them.”

Hermione said proudly.

“Even Muggle Studies?”

“Don’t you think studying Muggles from a wizard’s perspective is interesting?”

Wade gave an awkward laugh.

“I only know that you chose five elective subjects. You definitely won’t have enough time.

“If two classes happen to take place at the same time, you can only attend one of them, which means you’ll have to give up the other.”

“Unless you ask the professors to tutor you outside class.

“But if you do that, you probably won’t have any time left this year to eat or sleep.”

“I obviously have a way to deal with it.”

Ron curled his lip.

He had no interest in investigating the life of a top student.

“Wade, have you seen Harry?”

“No.

“But now that you mention it, shouldn’t Harry still be on Privet Drive?”

Wade pretended not to know anything.

“Why is he staying at the Leaky Cauldron?”

“My dad told me.

“Apparently, Harry blew up his aunt and sent her floating into the sky.

“As for why the Ministry of Magic didn’t punish him... I suppose it’s because he’s Harry Potter, the famous savior of the wizarding world.”

Wade almost lost his composure when he heard that.

Looks like the title of ‘Savior’ isn’t quite as useful as I thought.

“How ridiculous, Weasley.”

A disdainful voice came from behind Ron.

Ron turned around and saw Draco Malfoy wearing a mocking expression.

“What a mood killer.”

Ron immediately shot back.

“Tut.”

Draco curled his lips and sneered with interest.

“Looks like your father didn’t tell you the real reason.

“The Ministry didn’t punish Potter because Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban.”

“What does Sirius Black have to do with this?”

Hermione asked in confusion.

“I don’t have any reason to tell you that.”

“Because Sirius Black is a die-hard loyalist of You-Know-Who. After escaping from prison, his first priority will be to kill Harry.”

Wade directly gave them the version of events that most people believed.

“Compared to being targeted by a deranged murderer, whatever punishment the Ministry might have given him would hardly be worth mentioning.”

“Black...”

Ron thoughtfully looked at Draco.

“He isn’t one of your relatives, is he? I remember your mother is from the Black family.”

Draco neither confirmed nor denied it.

“Doesn’t the Weasley family have relatives in Azkaban?”

Ron’s expression stiffened, leaving him temporarily speechless.

Pure-blood wizarding families frequently intermarried.

If you traced their bloodlines far enough, the so-called Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families were practically all related to one another.

Some were simply closer relatives than others.