Saturday, the time for holidays.
The Great Hall was very empty in the morning; the number of people coming for breakfast was less than half of the usual amount.
Everyone was accustomed to this situation.
It was just that William was a bit surprised that Harry and Ron actually didn’t stay in bed sleeping late.
“William, there’s no need to look at me with such surprise, okay?” Harry said, yawning.
Looking at Ron again, he was in a similar state to Harry, both looking like they hadn’t woken up yet.
“Did you stay up late last night?” William asked curiously.
Although he wanted to ask if they had gone out for a night stroll, he changed the phrasing, thinking that there were others around.
“No, it’s just that a group of us talked for a bit too long last night,” Harry replied.
William:???
What could a bunch of kids talk about?
“It was about flying broomsticks.
We have flying broomstick lessons next week,” Ron gave the answer.
Hearing this answer, William expressed that he could understand, but he truly couldn’t understand how they could be so excited they couldn’t sleep because of a broomstick.
Especially since this class wasn’t until next Thursday.
Getting excited now, wasn’t that a bit too premature?
“I see.
Then hurry up and eat, and go back to the dormitory to catch up on some sleep after you’re done,” William said.
“Yeah, that’s what we were thinking too,” Harry said, followed by another yawn.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten about your homework,” Hermione spoke up at this moment.
With that one sentence, the two drowsy boys were instantly jolted awake, and the look they gave Hermione turned a bit resentful.
Unlike Hermione and William, who had already finished most of their homework, the two of them hadn’t even started theirs.
“There’s still a day of rest tomorrow, you’ll make it in time,” William comforted them.
“That’s true.”
Afterwards, the four finished breakfast and parted ways.
Harry and Ron returned to the dormitory to catch up on sleep, while William and Hermione went to the Library to return books and borrow new ones.
After finishing the borrowing procedures, William parted ways with Hermione.
Hermione wanted to study, while he continued to search for that special room, following the clues.
“I cannot take those memories away, so I simply left this first love and the room full of memories behind at Hogwarts.
Under the morning sun of that dawn, in the place filled with Hogwarts memories, it will also dissipate as it is forgotten by people…”
It must be said that such places in Hogwarts were surprisingly numerous.
To filter them out, he had to check them one by one based on the locations that appeared in the book.
Up until now, he had already checked every classroom, so next, he had to switch to other places.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many places appearing in this book; otherwise, William would have wanted to give up, especially since he still had the Room of Requirement as a substitute.
Just like that, the morning was about to pass, and William arrived at the last possible location he had filtered out—the Trophy Room.
This was where the book’s author and the male supporting character met.
If it weren’t for a line describing that the author had once told the heroine that he also wanted to become one of the names on the trophies, he would have ruled this place out.
After entering, the shiny trophies and glass cases were truly a bit dazzling.
No need to guess, this must have been polished by the Young wizards who were being punished.
I don’t know if this is an old tradition; the book’s author, David, started being punished by cleaning trophies back then, and it was still the same now.
After carefully checking one by one, he saw the name of Harry’s old father, and he also saw the name of the second Dark Lord, little Tom, but he just couldn’t find David’s name.
A whole morning, and still nothing to show for it.
Afterwards, putting aside the matter of looking for clues, William went to eat.
After eating and drinking his fill, and chatting for a while with Harry and Ron who happened to arrive, he got up to find Hagrid.
Running all the way, when he arrived, he found Hagrid busy tending to his pumpkins.
“Hagrid, I’m here.”
“Oh, William, you’re here.
Wait a moment, I’ll be done here very soon.”
Hagrid greeted him and continued with his work, but his speed had increased quite a bit.
Not long after, Hagrid came out of his pumpkin patch.
Seeing William looking at his pumpkins, he said with a chuckle:
“These are pumpkins prepared for holiday decorations.
They look beautiful, don’t they?
I raised them with careful care.”
“Yeah, Hagrid, you’re really amazing,” William said.
Honestly, he hadn’t thought that much just now; he just saw how big the pumpkins were and wondered if Hagrid had actually cast any charms on them.
But words like that couldn’t be said; after all, on the surface, Hagrid’s wand had been broken.
Hagrid didn’t pick up that William’s words were just polite filler, and smiling, he led him into the house.
“William, these are the Potion ingredients you wanted.
Some of them are in the Forbidden Forest; I can just pick them up when I’m patrolling, so you don’t need to waste Galleons buying them.”
Looking at those fresh Potion ingredients, some even still covered in soil, one could see how much effort Hagrid had put in to ensure they remained intact.
“Thank you, Hagrid. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
You don’t need to give me those Galleons back; after all, you worked hard to gather these, I can’t just take them for free,” William replied.
After all, he wasn’t really short on money.
“No need, there are plenty of these things in the Forbidden Forest, gathering them isn’t much trouble, just keep them.”
Hagrid said as he stuffed the remaining Galleons and Potion ingredients into William’s arms.
William wanted to refuse, but he couldn’t budge Hagrid at all despite using all his strength.
There was no other way, he had to accept them.
However, if he wouldn’t take the Galleons, he would just trade for something else.
For example: delicious food.
Of course, it didn’t mean he would come to cook for Hagrid; otherwise, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep up with Hagrid’s appetite even if he swung his spatula until it sparked.
What he wanted to give were various kinds of rice-topping sauces.
Pretending to take them out from the bag he was carrying, soon, dozens of jars of various flavored sauces were placed on the table.
“Hagrid, if you won’t take the Galleons, then please accept the food I made myself,” William said.
Hagrid picked up a jar with his fan-sized hand to take a look, nodded, and agreed.
“Alright, I’ll accept them.”
As he said this, he gave it a gentle twist, the lid opened, and a golden culinary glow appeared, directly flashing the eyes of the person leaning in to look.
“It’s glowing!” Hagrid was a bit surprised at this moment.
Seeing this, William explained the situation of the golden culinary glow to Hagrid.
“Only glowing dishes are good dishes.”
After tasting a mouthful, Hagrid had no doubts about this principle.
In the time that followed, William and Hagrid chatted.
Hagrid told him interesting stories about the Forbidden Forest, while William talked about how he had been busy “treasure hunting” these past few days.
“Hahaha, every year there are Young wizards like you, William, hunting for treasure.
It’s just that they all have treasure maps, and when they find it, they realize it’s actually just little things left behind by graduating students,” Hagrid laughed.
It seems this is just like keeping the Sorting Ceremony content a secret from the new students; it’s another tacit traditional ritual.
“I didn’t find a treasure map, but rather clues from a book written by a Wizard named David Holmes,” William said.
Just listening to Hagrid’s words, he felt it was better to just give up.
Leaving “treasures” for Hogwarts upon graduation had become a tradition; perhaps the author of this book invented various treasure secrets with just such an idea in mind.
However, the next second, Hagrid had a thoughtful look on his face.
“David Holmes, I seem to have heard that name before.
It’s been so long, let me think.”