The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 140 Two Months, Fishing and Feeding Spiders in Black Lake

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the Black Lake, and golden light danced on the shimmering water.

On the lakeside, Ino sat quietly in a specially made small armchair, holding an exquisite fishing rod in her hand, her eyes fixed intently on the buoy on the lake surface.

Suddenly, the buoy on the lake began to shake violently, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.

Quickly lift the fishing rod and pull it back forcefully. A silver fish draws a beautiful arc in the air, and due to inertia, the large fish, about a foot long, is flung onto the shore.

Although he had caught a fish, he didn't get up to remove the hook. He remained seated, watching the fish thrashing about on the shore.

Beside the chair, there was an open suitcase. In a moment, about twenty fist-sized, eight-eyed giant spiders emerged. These spiders lined up in a row and surrounded the lively fish in the blink of an eye.

A dozen seconds later, only a smooth fish bone remained on the ground.

Ino lifted the fishing rod with his left hand and waved his magic wand with his right, and a fat, wriggling earthworm appeared on the hook.

After baiting the hook with the polymorph bait, it's time to cast and wait.

After doing all this, he snapped his fingers, and all the spiders ran back to the suitcase.

Only one giant eight-eyed spider, the largest of the group, with specks of blue hair, remained on the ground.

The giant blue spider leaped lightly and landed on his lap.

"Go back obediently, come back when there are fish on the hook." Ino murmured, reaching out to stroke the giant spider on her leg.

As soon as he finished speaking, a message of obedience came to his mind, and the blue spider nimbly jumped off the ground and walked towards the briefcase in the corner.

The giant eight-eyed spider, as an adult species, can speak and possesses intelligence comparable to that of humans. They also have their own strict system.

The last blue spider to leave was the leader of the twenty or so eight-eyed giant spiders from before.

Gazing at the fishing float on the lake, Ino gradually fell into deep thought.

More than two months have quietly passed since Christmas.

During this time, the castle seemed to be back on track, and Lockhart's affairs were no longer being discussed much, after all, so much time had passed.

Moreover, Lockhart's arrest by the Ministry of Magic, his trial in Wizengamor, and his imprisonment are a foregone conclusion, a fact that cannot be changed regardless of public opinion.

Similarly, as time went by, the overall atmosphere in the castle became less restless, but subtly more ambiguous.

Valentine's Day, February 14th, is approaching.

Of course, Ino didn't care about Lockhart or Valentine's Day; what he really cared about was himself, or rather, his own miracle.

The eggs of the eight-eyed giant spider in the sanctuary hatched, and he also received twenty-three obedient and well-behaved spiderlings.

But it seems that's all the harvest we've gained.

Over the past two months, he has tried everything he could, including putting in eggs of other magical creatures, eggs of ordinary oviparous animals, and even some ordinary insect eggs, but the shelter has not had the same reaction as before.

Putting aside the previous connection between them, just in a simple sense, these eggs give people a feeling of death, as if they have no life.

However, he also had some guesses about this situation.

If the prediction is correct, then entering the fantasy world in the future will no longer be just about sightseeing; perhaps we should consider other things.

Time flies.

After catching several fish in a row, the lake surface calmed down.

For over an hour, not only did no fish bite, but the float didn't even budge. It was as if the fish in the Black Lake had become smarter and were somewhat immune to the earthworms that used shapeshifting techniques.

"Next time, I'll definitely use live bait!"

Ino grumbled under her breath as she deactivated the transformation spell on her fishing gear, then picked up the briefcase beside her.

The entire shelter was covered in ice and snow, and the giant spiders could only enter a semi-dormant state after entering, so the suitcase became their temporary nest.

Walking on the lawn outside the castle, he couldn't help but glance at the round stone house in the distance, which was still Hagrid's cottage.

After confirming that the sanctuary could only accommodate one type of creature, he immediately thought of Rubeus Hagrid, the magizoologist hidden in the castle, who had managed to apply his plant hybridization techniques to magical creatures.

Using a scorpion-tailed beast and a fire crab, a new magical creature—the blast-tailed snail—was created through cross-species breeding.

This ability is truly something that not everyone can achieve.

……

Mid-February.

Temperatures in the Scottish Highlands are gradually rising, and so are the hearts of the young men and women in the castles.

Gryffindor dormitory.

Hermione gripped the sheets tightly, fuming as she listened to the lewd remarks coming from her roommates. They were so unreserved, despite appearing to be very ladylike in public.

However, today these people have started talking about Ino again, about her lighter hair color and more deep and charming eyes, about how she has exuded a noble and elegant aura since last year, and so on...

Hermione felt she couldn't listen anymore, even though she had a strange feeling after empathizing with the situation, but that didn't mean she would allow others to discuss it publicly like that.

"Pavati! Can you come help me?" Hermione called out to the neutral girl.

Well, the six-person girls' dormitory was divided into four camps.

As the representative of the neutral faction in the dormitory, Parvati Petil stood up and walked towards Hermione after hearing the sound.

Similarly, although they were still chatting, the pace of their speech had subtly slowed down, and they were generally somewhat distracted.

Obviously, everyone wanted to see what Hermione Granger, the only member of the Independent faction, had to say, even though she usually acted very serious in the dormitory.

"Here I am, Hermione. Do you need any help?" Parvati quickly went to Hermione's bedside.

"Could you help me get the luggage down from the shelf? It's placed too high and it's a bit heavy, so we'll have to work together to get it down."

As Hermione spoke, she kicked off her slippers and stood barefoot on the bed.

At that moment, she deliberately forgot about magic and levitation spells.

Two minutes later.

"It's so beautiful! I've never seen one for sale anywhere in Diagon Alley. Did you order this?" Parvati asked, somewhat amazed.

Upon hearing this, Hermione instantly raised her voice by half a decibel; she had been waiting for these words all along.

"Really? I didn't know that. It was a gift from Ino when he visited my house for Christmas. Maybe he bought it in Hogsmeade, since he lives there."

Although she didn't turn around, Hermione could already imagine the expressions on some people's faces, but she still added, "I went to see it last summer, it's a very pretty two-story house!"

Parvati smiled silently. After realizing what was happening, she roughly understood that she was being used as a tool.

She wasn't annoyed by this. Since she had chosen the neutral camp, it didn't matter if it was used in a harmless way. In fact, she was quite happy about it.

As expected, the dorm room is about to become lively again.

(End of this chapter)