Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Ryan couldn't help but say, "I wanted to ask this the last time I took a car, why is there not even a cushion on the car?"

When they went home for Christmas, they also took these carriages to Hogsmeade Station, but when they left the college, they were with people from their own college and had no chance to get together.

Theo guessed, "Maybe it's to follow tradition—it can't be that there's no funding, right?"

Anyone who has seen the usual dining scene at Hogwarts would not think that the school could not afford a few soft cushions.

"What else can we ask for from a school that provides food and accommodation and doesn't charge tuition? Just treat this as a test for us!"

As Wade spoke, he tapped the straw pile on the car with his magic wand, and the withered straw immediately turned into a thick cushion.

Several people touched the cushions and said enviously, "Ah, Transfiguration is so difficult."

Under Vader's guidance, they all did well in Charms class, but they had to rely mostly on themselves for classes like Transfiguration, and Vader had no way of instilling firm beliefs and clear images into their minds.

"Do Muggle schools charge tuition?" Theo asked curiously.

"Hmm." Wade thought about the primary school he attended and said, "Public primary schools are basically free, with only a small amount of miscellaneous fees. But private schools cost at least 10,000 pounds a year."

"Ten thousand pounds?" Theo was confused. "How much is that?"

"That's about two thousand Galleons," Vader said.

Theo was shocked: "It's so expensive, Muggles are really rich!"

Even if he was a pure-blood, his family couldn't possibly spend two thousand Galleons a year to send him to school - maybe one would need a fortune like the Malfoys to be able to afford that?

"Most Muggle students also go to public elementary schools," said Weider.

"Speaking of which, these carriages in the school are really good. They can drive automatically. Is this also an alchemical item?" Ryan asked curiously. Neville suddenly raised his head, pursed his lips, wanted to say something, but held back.

"No - it seems like there is an invisible horse pulling -" Michael leaned forward: "Listen carefully -"

Several people held their breath and listened carefully. There were hissing sounds, snorting sounds, and wings flapping the air from invisible creatures in the air.

"A horse that can become invisible—" Ryan frowned and thought: "I seem to have seen this kind of creature in a book—"

"It's the Thestrals." Vader revealed the answer.

"Yes!" Ryan clapped his hands excitedly, "It's the Thestrals! Legend has it that only people who have witnessed death can see them - that's why we can't see them!"

"--So, they are not invisible, but people can't see them?" Theo frowned and sorted out the logical relationship.

"Yep."

Wade responded casually, nodded, and looked towards the front of the carriage.

The skinny black horse had a pair of white eyes without pupils, and its face was as ferocious as a dragon. It pulled the carriage forward meekly, its huge bat wings gently folded at both sides of its body. Maybe Ryan's voice was a little loud, it raised its head a little uneasily and slightly quickened its pace.

The wheels creaked and turned, and finally stopped in front of the castle's stone steps.

Wade jumped off the carriage. The night air was so cold that his breath turned into white mist. He turned around and met the pale, empty eyes of the Night Theris.

This feeling is very strange.

No wonder in ancient times, people equated seeing the Thestrals with seeing death, believing that the Thestrals would bring disaster to those who saw them.

"What are you waiting for, Wade!" Ryan patted him on the back and stamped his feet, saying, "It's really cold today!"

The students walked into the castle impatiently, walking on the snow and stone steps. At the corner of the entrance hall, Filch glared at the children who brought mud and water into the castle.

The hall was brightly lit, and the house-elves had still prepared a sumptuous dinner. Dumbledore sat in the teacher's seat, looking at the freshmen with a smile.

Chapter 65 The Room of Requirement

It was early in the morning and the bedroom was still dark. Wade was half asleep when he suddenly felt someone was watching him.

Alone in the dormitory, the presence of the gaze that did not belong to him was particularly obvious.

Wade opened his eyes blearily, and suddenly saw a row of huge, shining eyes in the darkness, like small lanterns floating in the air.

Boom!

His heart twitched violently, and Wade sat up suddenly, subconsciously grabbing his wand and pointing it over: "Who is it!"

"Mr. Grey is awake." The shrill voice of the house elf sounded, "Zoe knew that Mr. Grey would return to the castle today. Zoe has been waiting."

The slender fingers snapped in the air, and the oil lamp in the dormitory immediately lit up -

The three house-elves stood side by side on the floor in the middle of the dormitory, not realizing how scary it was to have them appear like this in the middle of the night, and looked at Vader with warm smiles on their faces.

Wade felt his pounding heart almost hurt his ribs. He took a deep breath, and his cold fingers gradually warmed up, but his scalp still trembled as if it had been electrocuted.

"Zoe, Happy, Phil." Wade said as calmly as possible, "Long time no see - why did you suddenly show up in the middle of the night?"

The elves bowed deeply, their big ears wagging, and said happily:

"It's like this - Phil received another gift from Weed Grey on Christmas -"

"But Weed Grey must have noticed—he didn't get any presents from the harpy—"

"It's not that there are no gifts, but because Zoe prepared better ones-"

"Phil wanted to give Vid Grey the gift he really wanted. But what did Vid Grey want? Phil thought and thought--"

"While cleaning Ravenclaw Tower, the harpy heard what the first-year students said, and then the harpy finally knew--"

The three house-elves smiled with delight and said in unison, "Ved Grey will definitely want a broom!"

"I do want to." Wade sat on the bed and looked at them. "But the school rules say that first-year students are not allowed to bring brooms into school."

Otherwise, he could have bought himself a new one during the Christmas holidays.

"There are rules, but Vid Grey won't break them." Zoe opened her arms and said, "Because the broom is already in the school, Vid Grey just uses it."

As long as the first-year students perform well in the flying class, they can borrow the brooms of senior students after class to fly for a while. When the Quidditch teams of various colleges are training, there are often some young wizards waiting around the court, just to borrow the brooms for fun after the training.

But it was impossible for a house-elf to steal a student's broom, nor was it possible for a house-elf to give him a school broom as a gift.

"Did you - find a discarded broom?" Wade asked in surprise, looking at the elves.

"More than one—more than one." The harpy wiggled his ears happily. "There are several! A broom without an owner—"

"Come with Zoe, Vid Grey." The elf pulled his finger and said, "Zoe wants to take Vid Grey to get his gift."

"Oh, okay - wait, let me put on my clothes." Wade lifted the quilt and sat up, looking at the elves again: "Uh - can you guys step aside for a moment?"

……

It was a very dark January morning, with a cold wind blowing against the windows, and a layer of frost even condensed on the windowsills. Weed followed the three house-elves, walking in the empty corridors of the castle, and could clearly hear the echo of his footsteps.

It was almost morning, and even Filch was not patrolling around, waiting to catch students who violated curfew. It seemed that Wade was the only one left in the entire castle, as if he was walking in an ancient oil painting.

Wade, who was wearing thick clothes, looked at the house-elf who was still only wearing a thin tea towel, and couldn't help asking: "Don't you feel cold wearing so little?"

Phil shook his head and said, "It's not cold. Phil can adapt to different environments, summer, winter, very cold, very hot, it's all fine."

——What a strange creature.

Vader looked at them deeply.

What a strange and powerful creature it is. Unlike wizards, it does not rely on wands. It is born to cast spells without a wand. It possesses outstanding and unique magic, great mana, and can Apparate unlimitedly.

If wizards had not planted ideas such as "absolute obedience" and "house-elves must be enslaved by wizards" in their genes or souls, they might be more dangerous to wizards than dragons.

Throughout history, goblins have rebelled many times, always fighting for the rights of their race. But even if house-elves are abused and killed by wizards, they will not resist, and will not even disobey the orders of their masters.

So most ordinary wizards hope to have their own house-elves, but wizards who have house-elves rarely treat them well. The house-elves belonging to Hogwarts are treated well among their kind, at least the students do not take pleasure in abusing them.

Vader lowered his eyes and followed the elves along the corridor for a long distance, sometimes walking down two flights of stairs, sometimes walking up several flights, and then they arrived near Gryffindor Tower.

The empty corridor had a blank white wall on one side and a huge tapestry of a wizard in a hat teaching the trolls to dance ballet on the opposite side. The trolls all turned their heads to look at them.

Wade suddenly remembered a place, and a huge expectation suddenly arose in his heart. He asked softly, "What is this place?"

"The Come and Go Room, Mr. Grey," said Zoe. "We also call it the 'Room of Requirement'. It only appears when someone really needs it."

"You need to walk through this wall three times and concentrate on what you need." The harpy said, and walked to the front of the wall, muttering to himself: "The harpy needs a hiding place... a hiding place... a hiding place..."

He walked back and forth, and when he passed by for the third time, a smooth door suddenly appeared on the wall with a shiny and warm copper handle.

Phil stood on tiptoe, pulled the copper handle hard, and the door slowly opened.

Vader couldn't help but hold his breath.

What appeared before my eyes was a city with high walls, with countless abandoned debris piled up inside, forming hills of "streets" - broken furniture, rusty weapons, statues severed by black magic, Muggle artillery, thousands of books, various banned and dangerous toys, and glass bottles filled with unknown potions.

His heart was beating fast.

The three house-elves smiled with pride and joy as they presented him with a broom that had been wiped and tidied and was still tied with an old red ribbon.

"This is a Christmas present for Mr. Gray!" they cried. "It's the best one here!"

"It's a little old, but it still flies well," Phil added softly.

--No.

Wade thought.

——This Room of Requirement that he had been looking for for a long time was the real gift!

He grabbed the broom and smiled a smile of surprise that seemed to brighten the whole room. His smile was so contagious that the three elves also smiled silly and satisfied.

Chapter 66: The Elves and the Portraits

Although the Galleons in the Gringotts vault were enough for him to buy ten more brooms of the latest model, he still showed great joy at the elves' gifts and shared with them the candies he brought from home - when he changed his clothes and went out, he grabbed a bag and put it in his pocket.

"This is made by Muggles. There is no magic in it, but it has a rich fragrance and is very delicious," Wade introduced to them.

The elves looked flattered and hesitated for a moment, but since it was not the first time that they exchanged gifts with Wade, several house-elves quickly calmed down and accepted the candies, thanking them gratefully.

"Will Wade Grey want breakfast?" Phil asked respectfully. "Most of the breakfast is ready in the kitchen at this time."

"Okay." Wade said decisively.

Phil found a cleaner old mat from the junk pile, and Zoe and Happy left the Room of Requirement. Soon after, they came back at the same time, one of them holding a large dinner plate full of food, and the other holding a large can of drink, which was Wade's favorite orange juice.

The harpies knelt on the ground, spread the tablecloth, and put food and drinks on it. Wade also sat down, and then he saw the elves crawling up and standing beside him, but they still held candies in their hands and looked at Wade with smiles on their faces.

Some thoughts suddenly flashed through Wade's mind. He looked up and said in surprise: "Why are you standing? Sit down - this is our breakfast meeting."