I swung a sword at Hogwarts

John shook his head slightly. Slughorn also had his moments of misjudgment.

Daphne's brilliance was so prominent that people overlooked the other girl from the Greengrass family.

He whispered to the lost Astoria: "Astoria, there is something I have been thinking about for a long time."

Astoria looked up, confused.

John raised his hand, and his fingertips gathered bits of starlight, which finally condensed into a small box tied with a sky blue ribbon.

He handed the item to Astoria and whispered, "Open it, so that I can prove that I didn't tamper with it."

Astoria looked at her sister and Daphne nodded at her.

Gently pulling the ribbon, she carefully opened the box.

Inside lies a constellation badge with stars that keep changing.

Astoria covered her mouth in surprise, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

There was a small card on the badge with Astoria's name on it.

John chuckled and said, "I have been thinking about whether to recruit you into the Star Club. You were too young before. Are you willing to join the Star Club now?"

Astoria bit her lip and tilted her head away, trying hard not to let her tears fall.

She saw her sister Daphne's encouraging eyes and Malfoy's encouraging gesture.

She had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Finally, she waited.

Seeing how emotional she was, John simply stood up and said casually, "We should go out for a while."

Knowing that this was now the best place for Astoria to vent her emotions, Malfoy and Daphne agreed and left the box.

After the people left, Astoria's crying was heard.

She wiped away her tears with her hands.

She had wanted to join the Star Club, long before, when she had walked through the halls surrounded by the stars.

But she is surrounded by excellent people, which makes her so inconspicuous.

I am not worthy of the Star Society.

This was the conclusion she made for herself a long time ago. With this idea in mind, she worked hard to become excellent and wanted to stand on the same side as her sister.

But after the stars appeared, people could no longer see the other people around them.

Although she didn't talk about what happened today, she was very hurt inside. She felt that she was not good enough and didn't even have an invitation.

But now, nothing matters anymore.

What was Slughorn's invitation?

The Stars had proven to her that Astoria Greengrass was as good as anyone.

John's words made it clear to her that this was not a consolation given out of sadness, but a plan that had already been decided before.

There is no backdoor, and no sympathy.

She, like her sister, is the best person.

She is the shining star standing among the other stars.

...

Chapter 428 Party on the Train

In box C.

In addition to John and his friends, there were other students there.

John already knew what interests Professor Slughorn had.

Those students who were invited either had a good reputation or a good family background.

Malfoy locked eyes with Harry, who looked a little dazed.

Unexpectedly, Ginny was there too.

Besides them, there were some others like Blaise Zabini, who was a Slytherin student in the same year as John.

There's also Cormac McLaggen, whose uncle is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic, similar to Pierce.

Seeing John coming, Slughorn turned around with difficulty in this space.

The other people in the box took action first.

"John, Daphne, Draco." Neville greeted John and the others.

Blaise tried to stand up in a hurry and hit his knee on the table.

Cormier also hesitated for a moment, then stood up and nodded to John.

"John, it's great to see you, so nice to see you!" Slughorn invited hurriedly, "I think these two are Miss Greengrass and Mr. Malfoy. I have reserved a seat for you."

Slughorn gestured, and John saw a seat by the door and was about to sit down.

"No, no, no, John, come here." Slughorn was overly enthusiastic and pulled John to sit next to him.

John still gave him this face.

"Well, you know these people, don't you?" Slughorn began.

"John is the best in Hogwarts," Blaise, John's fanboy, spoke before anyone else could speak, "You don't know how good he is."

Slughorn smiled even more happily at this, nodded and teased, "I know better than you think. Alex Belby, the Dharma I had the pleasure of teaching, the inventor of the Wolfsbane Potion, was a very good friend of John."

"Dharma Alex Belby told me that John Wick is definitely the most talented student in the past hundred years."

Slughorn was generous with his praise, talking endlessly about how great John was.

"Well, that's delightful," said Slughorn, satisfied, as if the mere praise of John satisfied him. "I brought my own lunch, as I remember the food on the dining trolley always smelled too strongly of hay wands."

"A poor old man whose digestive system can't handle this."

He muttered, and said to Malfoy: "Some quail, Malfoy?"

Malfoy accepted what looked like half a frozen quail.

"Your father used to be my student, and I visited his museum. It's a great thing, isn't it?" Slughorn was the head of Slytherin, and Lucius was also his student.

"Of course, my dad likes to make some insignificant contributions in the wizarding world." Hearing this, Malfoy raised his head with pride.

If Malfoy were asked to talk about his family, he could talk for three days and three nights.

But Slughorn would not neglect other students, as these would be his future collections.

Slughorn was amazed by another chat with Neville about the Longbottoms.

"I don't mean to offend. What happened with the Longbottoms is shocking. I even think it can be regarded as a miracle. An old friend of mine who works at St. Mungo's once said that it is impossible to cure."

As a Potions Master, Slughorn was curious about the Longbottoms' recovery.

He then talked to Daphne about Mr. Greengrass's recent dealings with the political world. Greengrass's assets had increased significantly in the past year.

In the end, he focused on Harry.

Asked about the Battle of the Ministry of Magic.

Harry felt very uncomfortable as he spoke.

Because there were at least six people present at the battle at the Ministry of Magic.

Four of them were his enemies at the time.

He also knew some secrets that John didn't know, so Harry didn't feel so guilty when talking about them.

But when the prophecy was mentioned, Harry subconsciously looked at Malfoy.

Malfoy smiled provocatively at this.

This made Harry very angry, as it was Malfoy who smashed the prophecy ball.

Harry's retelling was torture, for he had to recall things that he had been unable to suppress.

Fortunately, Ginny was there too, and her mind worked faster.

The party ended with Slughorn telling anecdotes about the outstanding wizards he had taught in his time, who had joined his Slug Club.

It was not until the red sunset appeared that Slughorn realized what was happening.

As the principal, he couldn't let these students get off the bus without their school robes.

Everyone left one after another, and Slughorn saw them off with a smile.

Just as he turned around, he found John still there.

"John?" Slughorn asked with a smile, happy to be alone with John. "Anything else?"

"Professor Slughorn, I need to ask you something."

When he said this, Slughorn was reminded of a letter that had frightened him so much that he dared not reply to it, and his smile froze.

He said: "If it's about taboos..."

"It's somewhat related," John saw his awkwardness and said calmly, "but it's not the same thing."

This relieved Slughorn, and he asked John's question.

"You should know why I got the Order of Merlin."

John put his fist to his chin and said calmly, "I have a study on Bloodborne."

As long as it is not about Horcruxes, Slughorn is willing to give guidance to students.

What's more, this student is the youngest holder of the Merlin Medal.

...

Slughorn was a strange man, you could say he was a snob, because he was always willing to give preferential treatment to smart and outstanding students.

His attitude towards those less outstanding students was neither harsh nor caring.

This, John thinks, is not a bad thing.

After all, privilege is the biggest motivation for people to work hard. If everyone is equal, the meaning of hard work will become vague.

Coming out of Box C, John saw Malfoy.

"Why are you waiting here?" John asked.

Malfoy pouted, "Daphne thinks she should talk to Astoria first."

"Why don't you talk about Atto?" John walked over and Malfoy followed naturally.

"Ahem," Malfoy coughed twice, feeling guilty, and said, "That's just a nickname. We are just good friends."

John said nothing and walked towards the carriage.

He saw Blaise Zabini gossiping about something.

Seeing John, Brace said excitedly: "John, you must not know what that girl just did."

"She used a beautiful bat spell to knock Zacharias Smith away!" Bryce said excitedly, "I love that girl so much, I want to chase her!"

Malfoy said, "Damn it, you like her? A Gryffindor?"

Perhaps because of John, Blaise, who was originally a purist, has now changed his mind and likes strong girls.

Ginny Weasley met this requirement perfectly, plus she had a very beautiful face.

Anyone else who meets the requirements is not within Bryce's reach.

Blaise may have blushed, but he was dark-skinned so it was hard to tell. He hesitantly asked, "John, do you think I can?"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of pursuing someone you like," John chuckled. "Keep your composure, Blaise."

With that affirmation, Brace made up his mind.

Malfoy leaned closer to John and whispered, "I swear Percy will kill him. We all know how much Percy dotes on this sister."

Percy never forgot to send gifts to his mother and sister at Christmas and during the cold war at home.