Have to admit, Seamus is definitely a genius.
"I think it's better not to use such crooked methods, Seamus, and Ron."
Hermione frowned on the side and said, "I think Professor Snape will definitely notice your little tricks, and then you'll be penalized with an extra essay, which will make you suffer."
"Don't worry, that greasy old bat won't find out." Ron said indifferently.
"Well, well..."
Snape's oily voice sounded from behind him.
Ron showed a look of horror, as if he had seen a giant spider.
He tremblingly turned his head and met Snape's jet-black eyes.
"Good suggestion, Miss Granger. Gryffindor will get an extra point for your suggestion."
After awarding Hermione points, Snape looked at Ron with an expression like looking at a slug.
"Additionally, Mr. Weasley, you'll be assigned two extra eleven-inch essays. Remember—no copying from other students. I'll be keeping a close eye on your paper."
"Gryffindor will lose five points for your insults behind a professor's back."
Having said that, Professor Snape floated away lightly.
"I think you shouldn't badmouth Professor Snape in the hall next time." Hermione patted Ron's shoulder sympathetically, "At least wait until you get back to the Gryffindor common room. He can't follow you into Gryffindor territory, can he?"
After speaking, Hermione lowered her head and whispered to Ron, "But I can take on writing one of your papers, but after I'm finished, you have to hand-write it."
"Thank you, Hermione." Ron looked at Hermione with tearful eyes.
He really would rather...
He would rather do a tap dance with a giant spider than write a Magic Potion essay.
It was just too torturous.
Recently, Harry has been busy looking for the Merlin Ruins.
But the essay that Snape assigned to him, he decided to complete it first when he returned to school before looking for the ruins.
Harry wasn't afraid of Snape; he just didn't want Snape to deduct points over the matter.
He knew well the little conflicts between his dear dad and Snape, and if given the chance, he believed Snape would gladly deduct a thousand points from Gryffindor just because he didn't do his homework.
Meanwhile, he could even tack on some other charges, like disrespecting a professor, and so on.
While Harry was writing his essay by the Black Lake, he didn't expect Pabi to come by his side.
"Harry, Harry~" Pabi tugged at the corner of Harry's clothes, "Come play with me, come play!"
"I'm writing an essay, Pabi." Harry said helplessly.
"I'll help you write it!"
After saying this, Pabi took Harry's essay paper and hid it somewhere unknown.
"Where did you hide it?" Harry searched around her but found nothing.
"Hahaha... Harry, stop searching, stop searching~" Pabi laughed heartily while being tickled, her head held high, "If you play with me, I'll help you write your essay. It's a fair deal, isn't it?"
"You..."
Harry wanted to say, how could you even hold a pen to write homework in that form?
But the words got swallowed back down.
He still wanted to view Pabi as a normal person, to make her feel useful and needed, avoiding touching on her sad memories.
"Alright, that's settled then." Harry ruffled Pabi's face with his hand, "You'll help me with homework, and I'll play with you..."
"Yay!" Pabi cheered and jumped joyfully.
Harry spent the whole day frolicking around the edge of the Forbidden Forest with Pabi, and only reluctantly did Pabi bid farewell to Harry.
"When you're tired, just come to play." Pabi said softly, "Don't overdo it. Finding Cassandra isn't a one-day thing, so don't exhaust yourself."
"Alright—" Harry waved goodbye.
In the tent at night, Pabi sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a pen with her mouth as she scribbled on the paper.
"Why don't I help you, Auntie?" Newt said a bit sympathetically.
He was somewhat confused by Harry, wondering why he would let a unicorn do his essay.
Wasn't this purely exploiting the unicorn?
"No, this is the job Harry gave me!" Pabi said earnestly, "You all see me as a ghost, a unicorn—only Harry looks at me as a normal person..."
Just then, the pen dropped to the ground with a clatter due to her mouth's movements.
"Oh no, the pen tip's broken!" Pabi said almost in tears.
Newt sighed and used a Rejuvenation Spell to restore the pen to its original condition.
I think Harry doesn't see you as a person, Newt muttered softly.
"This body is really useless," Pabi said, a little upset, "If only I had a pair of hands, I could do so many things, couldn't I?"
At the end of May's Quidditch match, Harry showed up on time—though there's not much to say. Against Hufflepuff, Harry caught the Golden Snitch at the fourteenth minute, leading Gryffindor to win the match with a score of 190:40.
For this match, Vivi specially returned to Hogwarts from the Muggle World.
As a Slytherin, she sat at the long Slytherin table, holding a banner supporting the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, happily cheering for Harry.
The Slytherin students around didn't dare to say a word. After all, facing this girl with the last name Grindelwald... they really couldn't take her on.
It should be said that the Slytherin students have always been pragmatic. Since they couldn't beat her, they had to join her—so, under Miss Farley's lead, some Slytherins reluctantly began cheering for Harry too.
However, Draco seemed willing, as he raised his arms and loudly cheered for Harry.
Everyone thought he was impressed by Harry's prowess, but only Draco knew—the object of his cheer was his future Great-Uncle!
This victory made Wood smile happily, as he saw it was another good year for the Quidditch championship.
In fact, Wood wasn't being premature with his celebration. As long as Harry was their Seeker, they would never lose—not even against Slytherin.
"It's just because you have a good Seeker!" The Slytherin students grumbled, glaring at Oliver Wood, especially Marcus Flint, who even mocked him face-to-face.
Wood didn't get upset. He just smiled and said, "Yeah, so why doesn't Slytherin have one?"
This single reply silenced not only the Slytherins but also the Ravenclaws.
However... the Hufflepuffs didn't really care, since to them, Cedric Diggory was already exceptional enough.
It wasn't that Cedric wasn't outstanding, but Harry was like a beast of a player.
Gryffindor Quidditch Team experienced, caught by a beastly skilled Seeker, exerting every effort failed to triumph.
Over these months, Harry explored almost all the Merlin Ruins in Scotland.
The facts proved that the Merlin Ruins seemed to recharge themselves, and after a century, it still appeared as it did the first time he and Cassandra underwent the Merlin's Trial.
However, his Sweet Mallow leaves were running short. If he wanted more, he had to buy them from Diagon Alley or Knockturn Alley.
Since he wasn't often around school, Colin's interest in him seemed to have waned.
Now, Colin was like a wild dog off its leash, always carrying his camera around the school, taking pictures of everyone happily.
The students didn't have an issue with it. After all, getting photos for free, everyone loved it.
Muggle cameras could also take dynamic photos, but it required dropping a special potion on the photos to turn them from jpg format to gif.
(Second update delivered! Asking for monthly votes!)