Chapter 42: Your sadness makes me happy
In the dormitory, Goyle and Crabbe were delighted when they saw the huge bag of cakes. Crabbe thanked him with a big smile, saying, "Thank you, Ethan, you're so kind!"
After saying that, he picked up a cake and put it in his mouth.
One bite, just one bite, and Crabbe's expression changed. "What kind of cake is this? Why does it taste so bad?"
Taking his cue from Crabbe, Goyle quickly spat out the cake he had just put in his mouth.
"Is it really that bad?" He looked at the plain-looking cake and couldn't imagine what it tasted like.
He thought Crabbe was lying to him and was planning to eat the delicious cake all by himself, so he took a big bite.
Goyle burst into tears. "Waaah, Mom, it tastes awful!"
"Draco, do you want to try some?" Ethan urged with ill intent.
"Get away from me! I don't want to eat this stuff!" Draco dodged away.
"Unfortunately, you lack the memory of such a uniquely terrible experience," Ethan said insincerely.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Why aren't you eating? Don't you regret missing out on such a terrible experience?"
"If I hadn't eaten it, would I have brought it back for you?" Ethan retorted.
Draco fell silent. He realized that his roommate was full of mischief.
After all that commotion, Ethan felt much better. With some time to spare before bed, he continued to study the other offensive spells recorded in the book Advanced Spells, hoping to learn them as soon as possible and have more ways to fight his enemies.
The second week's lessons were no different from the first week:
History of Magic was still as boring as ever; Ethan had turned it into a study session. Defense Against the Dark Arts was still terrible, but he had noticed that Quirrell seemed to be focusing more on him.
The Charms class continued to teach theory, while the Transfiguration class remained as fun as ever.
As the new week began, Hermione, after a night's rest, had probably sorted out some of her inner thoughts and wasn't so angry anymore.
She began talking to Ethan again, but he could tell that Hermione hadn't actually let go of her views on the Dark Arts; she just kept them buried deep inside and didn't express them.
Ethan stopped casting Incendio around Hermione to avoid upsetting her again. After that, he practiced it secretly at night, either by the Black Lake or in other secluded places.
After a busy Tuesday, he went to Hagrid's again and brought back two exquisitely crafted, light-colored wooden bookshelves, giving one to Hermione at dinner.
"I had Hagrid make this bookshelf for me. I thought you might need one for your desk too." Ethan smiled as he presented the gift to Hermione, who seemed quite pleased with it.
She looked at it with delight, wishing she could take it back to her dorm right away. "Thank you, I really need this. My desk is already overflowing with books!"
"Heh, I knew you'd need it." Ethan was glad his efforts hadn't been wasted. This helped resolve the conflict between them, allowing their relationship to slowly return to what it had been before Sunday's debate.
Friday's Potions class was the same as always. Snape targeted Harry, constantly scolding him, but was surprisingly kind to him as well, pointing out practical tips that weren't covered in the textbooks.
"Holy crap, what's wrong with Snape? This is giving me the creeps." Ethan didn't think this was a good thing, because whenever Snape looked at him, it felt like the professor saw a dying man, his eyes full of pity.
Yes, pity. He actually saw pity in Snape's empty, indifferent eyes!
After he told Hermione about it, she thought he was overthinking it and comforted him, saying:
"Don't overthink it. Maybe you're just benefiting from Malfoy's connections? Snape seems to have some kind of relationship with him. You two have always been paired together. Is that why Snape hasn't bothered you?"
"Maybe." He knew things weren't as simple as Hermione had made them sound, but he didn't have any evidence, so he left it at that for now, intending to investigate further later.
After finishing this week's classes, Hagrid received good news: the portable fire bottle had been purchased.
"What! Gringotts has been robbed?! I still have five thousand Galleons in the vault!" Ethan saw the newspaper clipping, which was already a few days old.
"Ah, it's nothing. It was just an empty vault that was robbed. There was nothing inside." Hagrid had clearly forgotten to burn the newspaper, and his eyes darted around.
That won't do either. I have to settle accounts with those goblins. They said Gringotts was the safest place, but they still got robbed. Hagrid, I'm taking this scrap of newspaper. I'll keep it to confront them." He waved the slightly stained paper in his hand.
"Okay," Hagrid hesitated, but finally agreed.
He was more concerned about Little Black's condition than the newspaper.
"Take good care of it. When it has babies, don't forget to give me one," Hagrid reluctantly handed over the little black salamander, which had clearly grown much larger.
"Don't worry, once Little Black has offspring, I'll give you one as soon as possible!" Ethan patted his chest and assured him, accepting the creature that had grown nearly three centimeters in just one week.
He had already figured out how to raise them.
After returning to the dormitory, he set up the metal mesh, propped up the stand, and placed the portable fire bottle below. When he turned on the switch, flames immediately passed through the mesh and rose above it.
He placed the black salamander on a large net where it could not only rest comfortably and feed on the flames, but also have room to move around.
"Perfect!" He reached straight through the flames and touched Little Black's warm body.
Just then, Draco entered and witnessed the scene. He covered his mouth, unable to believe his eyes.
He stared for a moment, then exclaimed in disbelief, "You! You just passed through the flames!"
"Isn't this normal?" Ethan thought to himself with satisfaction, but on the surface he remained calm and composed, playing it cool.
"Really?" Draco suspected he was showing off, but he had no proof.
He then turned his gaze to the charcoal-like creature. "What is this? Speaking of which, where did the salamander that Professor Kettleburn gave you go?"
"Here it is," Ethan gestured toward it.
"Huh? Don't lie to me, salamanders aren't black."
"Don't believe me if you don't want to." Ethan didn't explain further, content to enjoy the novelty of having a pet in the dormitory.
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