Chapter 166: The Dull Care of Magical Creatures Class (Patreon)

“Riddikulus!”

“Riddikulus!”

One student after another stepped forward to test the spell. The Boggart kept shifting between terrifying forms and ridiculous ones, until finally it was Harry Potter's turn.

This time, the Boggart transformed into a hooded Dementor and lunged straight at Harry.

“Look at me.”

Lupin swiftly stepped in front of Harry. The Boggart immediately changed, transforming into a glowing full moon.

“Riddikulus!”

Pop!

The moon turned into a deflated balloon and began bouncing wildly around the classroom.

Lupin waved his wand again, sending the balloon back into the cabinet.

“I'm sorry, but that's all for today's lesson.

“For homework, read the chapter about Boggarts and give me a brief summary. Hand it in next class.”

The students left the classroom excitedly.

It wasn't just because the lesson had been so entertaining. For the first time, they had finally gotten a competent Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

Compared to Quirrell and Lockhart, Lupin's value naturally seemed even greater.

“So you're afraid of Granger?” Daphne teased. “I never would have guessed.”

“I'm not afraid of Hermione. I'm afraid of a top student’s pursuit of knowledge and her obsession with getting every detail right,” Wade explained casually.

Daphne didn't seem convinced.

“We don't have any classes this afternoon. Shall we go to that room on the eighth floor?”

Wade naturally had no reason to refuse. There were quite a few valuable things waiting for him in that room.

The two walked side by side to the eighth floor of the castle. They paced back and forth in front of the wall opposite the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by a troll.

Before long, a door appeared on the wall.

When they opened it, they discovered that someone was already inside.

It was Astoria.

“Daphne, you're here.”

“Astoria!”

Daphne immediately rushed forward and hugged her tightly.

The Boggart had left her with too much psychological trauma. She had genuinely been afraid that she would lose her beloved little sister.

“Daphne, loosen up. You're going to strangle me.”

Daphne hurriedly let go. Her worried expression was now mixed with a hint of annoyance.

“You ungrateful little thing. You don't even call me Sister anymore.”

Astoria gave her a faint smile.

“I tried it out just now. This room can turn into a living room, a bedroom, or even a library. It's really just as amazing as you said.”

“Of course it is. This room can satisfy whatever you desire.”

“So I gave it a name—the Room of Requirement.”

“My little sister really is clever.” Daphne praised her with a completely serious expression. “We've known about this room for almost two years, yet neither of us thought to give it a name.”

She then turned to Wade.

“The Room of Requirement. What do you think of that name?”

“Very good. Excellent.”

Wade applauded.

What the room was called didn't really matter to him. He was planning to build a new secret base anyway.

“Now that Astoria knows about the Room of Requirement, shouldn't her magical training be put on the schedule too?”

“There's no rush. She's only a first-year. Let's wait until she's gotten used to life at Hogwarts.

“Besides, she doesn't necessarily have to practice magic. She can develop hobbies like you did—Divination, Potions, Alchemy, and so on.”

“All right. Whatever makes you happy.”

Wade wisely chose not to interrupt the sisters' conversation. Instead, he quietly went around the room collecting the alchemy tools and other valuable items.

For the next while, apart from attending classes, Wade spent his time designing renovation plans for the secret chamber in his notebook and working out a list of materials and equipment he needed to purchase.

Although he wasn't a professional designer, he had spent an entire month living at Nicolas Flamel's estate. He had at least learned enough to imitate what he had seen.

As for the Hovering Cloak he had promised Draco, Wade still delivered it on time.

The remaining payment of 180 Galleons was no small amount to him at present.

Although Draco's arm hadn't fully recovered, he couldn't wait to put on the cloak. He even flew around the Quidditch pitch wearing it.

He showed off shamelessly, while also giving Wade's product a considerable amount of publicity.

As a result, quite a few people approached Wade afterward to place orders.

Wade accepted every order that came his way.

At the retail price of 300 Galleons each, he collected a thirty-percent deposit on every cloak.

Before long, he had earned more than a thousand Galleons.

The only problem was the production time. At one cloak per week, he would have to keep working until after Christmas.

With his current level of Alchemy, making three cloaks a day wasn't difficult. But during the school term, he simply didn't have that much free time.

Three days per cloak was already his absolute limit.

That morning, after breakfast, Wade performed his usual divination using a Galleon.

When the coin landed with the favorable side facing upward, his eyes immediately became much clearer.

...

This meant that the opportunity he had been waiting for concerning Nevermore Academy had finally appeared.

But then Wade gave a bitter smile.

Today wasn't Sunday, and he hadn't even started making the puppet substitute yet. If he simply left Hogwarts like this, something would definitely go wrong.

“Tomorrow, then. Tomorrow is Sunday.”

After sorting out his thoughts, Wade walked toward the castle grounds with the others.

Hagrid didn't take the students back to that enclosure.

Instead, he handed each of them a wooden box.

Inside each box was a brown worm.

“Another Flobberworm?”

Wade stared at the ten-inch-long worm in the box, his tone becoming extremely impatient.

“Hagrid, we've been raising Flobberworms for weeks already. Can't we study something else?”

He had originally hoped to use this class to find materials for making high-level potions.

Even if he couldn't find anything useful, learning about more magical creatures would still be worthwhile.

But if the class remained this boring, it would end up just like Ancient Runes—it would completely lose its purpose.

“Er…”

Hagrid pursed his lips.

“Are you sure you completely understand them?”

“They have no teeth, they like lettuce, but they'll actually eat almost any plant. The green mucus they secrete can be used as a thickening agent in potions.”

Hermione continued, “They don't like moving around and prefer living in damp ditches. They also don't require much care. Feeding them too much can actually cause them to eat themselves to death.”

A flicker of panic crossed Hagrid's eyes.

Looking somewhat embarrassed, he said, “If you're getting bored, we can study Horklumps next lesson.”

“Those pink creatures covered in bristles that look like plump mushrooms?”

Daphne looked thoroughly disgusted.

“Then we'd better just keep feeding the Flobberworms. It'll save you the trouble, too.”

“Hagrid, you know…”

Hermione looked at him sympathetically.

“This really isn't very interesting.”

“Yes, I know, but…”

Hagrid hesitated before carefully glancing at Draco.

“It's all Malfoy's fault,” Ron muttered resentfully.

If Draco hadn't dealt such a heavy blow to Hagrid's confidence during their very first lesson, Care of Magical Creatures wouldn't have become this boring.

Harry nodded in agreement.

“At least he didn't get his father to find an excuse to have Hagrid fired, and he didn't get Buckbeak punished. I suppose that's the one bit of good luck we've had in all this bad luck.”