After leaving Ollivanders Wand Shop, Hermione followed closely behind Leon, clutching her wand and an extra wand-care kit she had purchased, as she asked in a low voice: “Your mother is actually a witch?” “It’s news to me, too,” Leon replied, feeling rather helpless.
After all, finding out about this from someone else rather than his own mother’s confession felt quite bizarre.
Although their family had spent more time apart than together over the years, if his mother was a witch, she must have known that he would likely awaken this talent in the future and attend Hogwarts.
Yet, who could have guessed that even after the Hogwarts acceptance letter had been delivered to their house, his mother would still keep it a secret?
Heaven only knew what that eccentric mother of his was thinking.
But this also piqued Leon’s curiosity.
He immediately probed Professor McGonagall, who was walking ahead of them, “Professor, have you ever heard of my mother?” “I don’t know any witch with the surname Valentine,” Professor McGonagall replied.
“Before this, I assumed you came from a Muggle family, just like Miss Granger.” In truth, Professor McGonagall was also quite curious about the identity of Leon’s mother, but she genuinely did not know or had never heard of a witch by that name.
“Well, looks like I’ll have to find the answers myself,” Leon said, not particularly disappointed.
After all, while the wizarding population in Britain wasn’t massive, it wasn’t small either; it was impossible for Professor McGonagall to know every single British witch or wizard.
However, Professor McGonagall’s lack of acquaintance also proved one thing: his mother was definitely not a Hogwarts graduate.
And not being a Hogwarts graduate meant she wasn’t British.
His dad, on the other hand, was British, but since Professor McGonagall didn’t seem to know him either, it meant his dad hadn’t attended Hogwarts either.
Therefore, there was a high probability that his dad was a Muggle.
The conclusion was clear: Leon was a half-blood wizard.
But knowing this didn’t mean much to him.
He didn’t care about the so-called pure-blood theory, nor did he care about his half-blood status.
Right now, he just wanted to know what else his mother was keeping under wraps.
For instance, whether she had a massive vault of savings waiting for him in Gringotts.
“Well, it is time for me to return,” Professor McGonagall announced, initiating their departure while Leon was still lost in thought.
“You can head back the way you came toward the Leaky Cauldron to return home.
I won’t be accompanying you any further.” “Um, Professor, would you mind coming with me to Eeylops Owl Emporium first?” Leon spoke up immediately upon hearing this.
Professor McGonagall understood Leon’s underlying meaning instantly.
Shaking her head slightly, she said, “That won’t be necessary.
However, once term starts, remember to report to Mr.
Filch yourself to explain the situation.” “Uh, can’t I just buy another one to replace it?” Hearing the name Filch gave Leon a bit of a headache.
After all, the infamous caretaker, Filch, was notorious for hating every student at Hogwarts.
Would Leon stand a chance of getting off easy if he fell into his hands?
Although the man was a Squib, he was still a member of the Hogwarts staff, so Leon couldn’t exactly resort to drastic measures.
“No, you cannot,” Professor McGonagall flatly refused Leon’s suggestion before walking away with brisk steps.
“What did you do before this?” As soon as Professor McGonagall left, Hermione eagerly leaned in to nose around for information.
Although the conversation between Leon and Professor McGonagall had been somewhat vague, the clever Hermione still sensed that Leon had gotten himself into a bit of trouble.
“Sigh, remember what I was doing on the roof last night?” Leon didn’t try to hide it.
He explained the cause, the process, and the outcome of the incident to Hermione clearly.
After all, there was nothing to hide, and with Hermione’s sharp mind helping him brainstorm, maybe they could come up with an alternative solution.
As the saying goes, “three fools make a sage”—or more commonly, “two heads are better than one.” Even though there were only two of them, Hermione was certainly no fool; she was incredibly sharp.
But to Leon’s speechlessness, Hermione didn’t help him scheme at all.
Instead, she took a step back with a face full of disgust and complained, “It’s bad enough that you accidentally killed a Hogwarts messenger owl, but you actually ate it?!” “Do you even understand the sheer weight of the phrase ‘never waste food’?” Leon rolled his eyes at Hermione, completely abandoning any hope of relying on her clever little brain.
Although Mr.
Granger still wanted to explore Diagon Alley a bit more and even harbored a desire to exchange some extra Galleons from Leon for a proper shopping spree, he ultimately gave up the idea reluctantly under Mrs.
Granger’s firm pressure.
On the way back, the Grangers still sat in the front seats, while the back row was occupied by Hermione and Leon.
However, unlike before, Hermione no longer sat right next to Leon; she deliberately left an empty seat between them.
She was clearly revulsed by the fact that Leon had eaten an owl.
Leon had no intention of sucking up to her either.
Although his physical body was only eleven years old, his psychological age was well over thirty.
Naturally, he wouldn’t hold a grudge against a little girl, and Hermione leaving him alone suited him just fine.
Compared to chatting with Hermione, he was actually far more curious about the sudden system update results and his radically changed status panel after obtaining his wand.
Character Status Panel Name: Leon Class: Novice Gourmand, Trainee Wizard Strength: 4 (Growable, Pending growth) Agility: 3 (Growable, Pending growth) Vitality: 5 (Growable, Pending growth) Perception: 6 (Growable) Appetite: 50/100 Skills: Cooking (Advanced), Hunting (Uninitiated), Plant Cultivation (Novice) Talent: Ingredient Analysis (Expert) Trainee Wizard Extension Panel (Updated) Magical Power: 3 (Growable, Pending growth) Magic Affinity: 7 (Growable) Resonated Elements: None (Growable) Magical Talent: None (Growable) Spell Mastery: None (Learnable) It was a rather rudimentary template, but the general values were clearly marked, allowing Leon to intuitively monitor his changes and growth at any time.
The extension panel exclusive to wizards that unlocked after he received his wand came as a pleasant surprise.
This meant that the system’s food-based enhancement effects could also benefit his identity as a wizard.
This made things very interesting, because it implied that even though Leon was currently a weakling, as long as he ate enough and consumed sufficiently refined food, his future would be incredibly bright.
After all, this was Leon’s personal system.
Although there was no voice assistant or system spirit, over the years Leon had already figured out the system’s rules completely: all attributes marked as “Growable” could be enhanced through eating.
On the other hand, “Pending growth” indicated attributes that would naturally increase over time as he grew older or underwent relevant training.
Since Leon’s body was still young and far from full maturity, this was perfectly reasonable.
Although it was his first time seeing the “Learnable” prompt, anyone with basic reading comprehension skills could easily understand its literal meaning.
But that wasn’t the point.
The main highlight was that with this attribute column, Leon could systematically track his mastery over the spells he learned.
Just like the skills in the system’s previous standard panel, his Advanced cooking skills had been ground up by Leon himself from the Novice tier through an immense amount of practice.
After reviewing the panel several times, Leon closed the screen with deep satisfaction.
While he didn’t know how his current stats compared to others, all Leon needed to know was that his future held boundless potential.
Right now, he wanted nothing more than to head to Hogwarts as soon as possible.
After all, ingredients from the Muggle world likely couldn’t boost a wizard’s panel stats.
To secure a grander future in the realm of magic, only the Forbidden Forest and the Herbology greenhouses surrounding Hogwarts would serve as his ultimate treasure troves.