Harry was obsessed with the Mirror of Erised, Ron was absorbed in chess, Neville was tearing up the Quidditch pitch, and Hermione was buried in the library.
After a busy half-term, Linus seemed to have become the idlest person around.
Charms and Transfiguration were both stuck over halfway through Lv 5, expected to level up right around the end of the school year.
His Herbology and Potions talents had finally been upgraded to blue, and their skill levels were both grinded up to Lv 3.
Without missing a beat, the system issued a mission to upgrade from blue to purple, which was projected to take until the second semester of his second year to complete.
The sole benefit of raising his Potions talent and level was that Severus Snape finally stopped endlessly nagging about Linus’s operational flaws after every private lesson.
Instead, whenever Linus made a minor slip, Snape would merely utter a strange “Hmm,” leaving Linus to figure out the rest of his unfinished sarcasm on his own.
His Flying talent relied entirely on Neville’s efforts—and Neville was working extremely hard.
Now even Malfoy and his two lackeys could barely find Neville to bully, because the moment class ended, Neville would grab his broomstick and dash straight for the Quidditch pitch.
At the Gryffindor table during lunch, Linus was tackling a steak when a dark-haired girl with a long three-strand braid running down her back walked over.
It was Susan Bones from Hufflepuff.
“Hey, hi, Linus,” Susan said, tapping his shoulder.
“Is something up?” Linus asked, puzzled.
Because he was close with Hermione, the girls in his year naturally kept their distance from him, though the older girls didn’t mind.
“Um, Professor McGonagall asked me to give you this.” Susan handed him a slip of paper, then fidgeted for a moment before adding, “Also, I was wondering…”
Mid-sentence, Linus had already read the note—’Come to my office.
Durand has arrived.’—and stood up, quickly replying, “Thank you.”
Seeing that Susan seemed to have more to say, Linus gave an apologetic smile, held up the note, and said, “Professor McGonagall needs me for something, so I’d better get going.”
He then walked past her with quick strides and headed toward the Great Hall exit.
“I was wondering if you could help me with my Transfiguration homework this weekend,” Susan finally finished muttering softly, but by then Linus was already nowhere to be seen.
This wasn’t Linus’s first time visiting Professor McGonagall’s office, but today the atmosphere was unusually festive.
On either side of the door hung Chinese Spring Festival couplets: on the right, ‘Hoofprints stretch a thousand miles bathed in morning dew’; on the left, ‘Willow waves ripple ten thousand fold against the setting sun’; and above them, the horizontal scroll read, ‘Spring covers ten thousand miles.’ At the center of the wooden door was an inverted red *Fu* character.
*Did I transmigrate back?* Linus rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Fortunately, when the door opened, there stood the familiar Professor McGonagall.
Beside her, however, were two extra people: a middle-aged witch with blonde hair and a purple robe, possessing sharp eyes and a powerful aura, who was examining Linus with great interest; and a tall fourteen-or-fifteen-year-old girl with a cascading waterfall of silvery hair and striking green eyes, whose astonishing beauty was already plain to see.
Professor McGonagall pointed to the middle-aged blonde witch and introduced her, “This is Professor Alecto Durand, Deputy Headmistress of Beauxbatons.”
Linus offered her a polite smile.
Alecto gave a soft chuckle and offered a casual “Mhm.”
Professor McGonagall then pointed to the silver-haired girl and said to Linus, “And this is Miss Fleur Delacour, who accompanied Professor Durand.
She is a fourth-year student at Beauxbatons.”
Linus greeted her politely as well.
“Welcome to Hogwarts, Fleur.”
Fleur offered a slight nod in return.
“Professor, what are those couplets at the door?” Linus pointed his left hand toward the four characters for ‘Spring covers ten thousand miles,’ looking thoroughly perplexed.
“These are gifts Alecto brought for me.
She just finished a study tour in the East, where they are currently celebrating the Spring Festival, so she brought back some local specialties,” Professor McGonagall explained briefly.
“And why did you call for me?”
“This is Fleur’s first time at Hogwarts.
We would like you to show her around,” Professor Durand spoke up this time.
Taking a play-it-by-ear approach, Linus accepted the tour guide duty.
After all, he couldn’t very well summon Norbert directly and tell Professor Durand, “I know you want to see my magical capabilities, so there’s no need to go to such lengths to test me with a student.
Here, this is a fire dragon I transfigured—why don’t you test out its dragon breath?”
Linus led Fleur, who was a head taller than him, on a stroll through the castle grounds.
He first took her to visit Hagrid’s hut on the edge of the grounds, which he considered the best tourist spot at Hogwarts.
When they arrived, Hagrid was barefoot, fertilizing his pumpkin patch, while Fang scampered back and forth carrying a bucket in his mouth.
“Hagrid!” Linus called out to the half-giant busy in the patch.
“Oh, Linus, today isn’t food pickup day, is it?” Hagrid paused mid-sentence as he noticed the strangely beautiful girl beside him.
“An’…
who’s this?”
“This is Fleur, a senior student visiting from Beauxbatons.
I’m showing her around Hogwarts,” Linus introduced her to Hagrid, then turned to Fleur.
“This is Mr.
Hagrid, our Keeper of Keys and Grounds. New chapters come out on g.com first.
He knows a lot about magical creatures, so if you ever have any questions about them, he’s the person to ask.”
“Hullo, Fleur,” Hagrid said, reaching out a large hand.
“Hello, Mr.
Hagrid.
You may call me Delacour,” Fleur replied with a polite smile and a nod.
Hagrid awkwardly pulled back his hand, scratching his head with a chuckle.
“Hagrid, are you planting pumpkins?” Linus asked.
“Yeah, last year’s pumpkins are all used up, so I’ve gotta get ready for this year’s Halloween.
Wanna try sowing seeds an’ tilling the soil?
It’s good fun,” Hagrid offered warmly.
Linus turned to look at Fleur.
She looked back at him, offering a silent but firm refusal.
“Sorry, Hagrid, I’m not particularly interested,” Linus replied with a smile, then continued leading Fleur along.
In truth, he was quite interested, but he couldn’t very well make a guest stand around bored while he farmed all afternoon.
“Up ahead is the Forbidden Forest.
It’s one of Hogwarts’ restricted areas.
Unless invited by the Headmaster or a professor, please don’t enter without permission,” Linus said, pointing toward the lush, dark forest in the distance.
“And what if I insist on going in right now?” Fleur had finally found an opportunity to test Linus’s strength.
Though she didn’t truly believe Professor Durand’s claim that this child might be a Transfiguration master, she still had a duty to fulfill her professor’s instructions.
“Then I’ll run back to the castle as fast as I can for help and hope the professors can find an intact body by the time they get there,” Linus said with a shrug.
“That’s not a very gentlemanly answer,” Fleur said, curling her lips.
“That wasn’t a very ladylike question either.” Linus turned back toward the castle.
“Next up, would you like to see the greenhouses or the specimen room?”
Fleur stood frozen, staring at Linus’s retreating back with her pretty eyebrows knitted tightly together.
She then hurried to catch up with him as he nearly vanished from sight.
“Wait for me, you little brat!
Is this how you act as a tour guide?”