"Potter, I heard you're famous now. Famous in the muggle world, even. You must be awfully busy lately, aren't you?"
A month after the match, Draco had once again resumed his haughty attitude in front of Harry, as if this was exactly how he was supposed to speak to him.
Harry smiled and ignored him, continuing to deal with the dinner in front of him. He still had to attend Dumbledore's tutoring session after dinner tonight.
Although that would not directly make him stronger, just as Professor Fawley had said, the more he understood Voldemort, the more courage he would have to face him.
Besides, after that spectacular match and their silent, seamless teamwork, there was no way their relationship could remain exactly the same, as if nothing had happened.
"Why?" Ron could not help asking instead.
Muggle-born students had long since received copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from home.
Naturally, they also knew about the wave of magic fever the book had stirred up all over the world.
To be honest, when Ron first heard the news, he had been so excited he had not slept the entire night, discussing it with Harry and the others in the dormitory until dawn.
"Because you need to hurry up and practice your signatures, so you can write replies to readers like Lockhart!" Draco said with a wide grin.
Unexpectedly, he had mocked the wrong person this time.
"That makes sense!" Ron said excitedly, slapping Harry on the shoulder.
"Do you think we'll have loads of fans writing to us?"
"Muggles don't know the wizarding world exists. They'll only think we're fictional characters in a novel. How could they possibly write to us?"
Hermione stood up in annoyance and gathered her books.
By sixth year, her coursework had not decreased like it had for certain people. On the contrary, because the classes had become more difficult, her workload had grown even heavier.
"That doesn't mean we don't have fans..." Ron muttered first, but when he saw that more than half of Hermione's dinner was still left, he asked with concern, "You're only eating that much?"
"I have something I want to ask Professor Fawley. There's no shortage of food at his place!" Hermione called back from afar, then strode out of the Great Hall.
Hogwarts at night had a particular kind of stillness, though that did not apply to Tver's office.
When Hermione hurried over, the office door was slightly ajar, and a faint light spilled out from inside.
That meant the professor had a guest, but whatever they were discussing was probably nothing important. She only needed to push the door open gently.
Creak.
The faint sound caught Tver's attention, but he merely glanced at the well-behaved Hermione before turning his gaze back to Neville.
"Newt has taken on a very important job. It involves developing, well, an extremely large area."
At this point, even Tver felt a little guilty.
For such a huge piece of land, if it were an ordinary nature park, it could simply be managed normally, with little need for too many artificial buildings or traces of human activity.
The problem was that this was a magical nature park.
It had to suit the living environments of magical creatures without disrupting the normal lives of ordinary plants and animals. Otherwise, even the magical creatures might not feel comfortable there.
So while technology was indeed unnecessary, the demand for magic and plant-related work had risen sharply.
Because of this, Newt had been sending complaint letters almost every day. To pacify this expert on Magical Creatures, Tver had no choice but to seek out Neville, who was still a little inexperienced but whose ability was already clearly showing.
"He needs an assistant exceptionally skilled in Herbology." Tver took out two letters, one containing Newt's job description and the other his own letter of recommendation. "So I recommended you to him."
Neville accepted the two letters blankly, looking somewhat at a loss. This was the first time he had received such attention from a professor, and from the famous Mr. Newt as well.
"But I'm still attending classes..."
"You can communicate by letter during term, and go over for a look during the summer holidays."
Tver thoughtfully squeezed every bit of Neville's time dry. As for the owls flying back and forth between two continents...
If they knew how great their work was, they probably would not mind, right?
Seeing Neville begin to waver, Tver instead softened his voice.
"There's no rush. You can read through the requirements first. If you want to challenge yourself, I personally hope you'll accept this job, but the choice is ultimately yours."
"I understand, Professor!"
Looking at the professor's earnest, expectant gaze, Neville nodded heavily.
Even before reading the requirements, he had already decided to do everything he could to complete this job.
"Good." Tver nodded approvingly, then pointed toward the door.
"If there aren't any problems, hurry up and write Newt a reply. The need over there is quite urgent."
Neville: [・_・?]
After Neville left the office in bewilderment, Hermione immediately sat down and began eating the little cakes on the professor's desk.
Watching Hermione wolf them down, Tver asked curiously, "Isn't it still dinnertime?"
"The food at school can't compare to the little cakes in your office, Professor," Hermione mumbled, while a faint, almost imperceptible slyness flashed through her eyes.
Tver immediately broke into a delighted smile at that.
This was the first time in all these years that anyone had praised the desserts in his office.
Since Hermione clearly knew quality when she saw it, he was not stingy either. He took out some of the little sweets he had kept in reserve and placed them on the desk, then happily enjoyed them with Hermione.
What he failed to notice was that Hermione's eyes were growing brighter and brighter, while the movements of her hands gradually slowed.
"Professor, there's still a Horcrux inside Harry, isn't there?" she suddenly asked.
The unexpected question made Tver choke slightly.
"How did you confirm that?" he asked with a frown.
"I only confirmed it today," Hermione said, her face reddening slightly.
In truth, it was only after rereading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone countless times that realization had finally struck her.
"Harry gets headaches whenever he encounters Voldemort, and he can even sense what's in Voldemort's mind. All of that tells us there's an extraordinary connection between them."
"And considering..." She quietly glanced at the professor. "You and Dumbledore are absolutely strong enough to fight Voldemort, yet you still haven't acted."
"I think only the Horcrux in Harry's mind could make you hesitate this long, right?"