In the study room, Hufflepuff’s little badgers happily flooded in, holding sweets and surrounding Ethan.
“In this afternoon’s Transfiguration class, we all successfully turned our matches into silver needles!
Professor McGonagall was so pleased, she even awarded us house points!” Of the four houses, Hufflepuff had the largest population, while Ravenclaw had the smallest.
However, not all Hufflepuffs came to find him; those who didn’t had their own ways of studying.
Susan Bones said happily, “Because nearly half of us still hadn’t mastered the needle transfiguration, Professor McGonagall didn’t require us to learn the button transfiguration yet.
She said she wants to see every Hufflepuff student successfully turn matches into silver needles before the next class.” Ethan nodded and asked, “What about Ravenclaw?” Susan Bones’s voice lowered slightly.
“All of Ravenclaw managed it, and the professor gave them points too.” Ethan nodded, not particularly surprised.
After all, most of the clever young wizards were sorted into Ravenclaw.
Since it was Friday, the little badgers left him a pile of sweets and then headed out to play.
The sweets were piled like a small mountain on the table, and Ethan couldn’t help but look at them with a sigh of worry.
Hogwarts didn’t provide snacks, which meant if anyone wanted them, they had to buy them with their own money.
But he didn’t like sweets, and these treats weren’t cheap.
Besides, he already had a massive pile back in his dormitory; even after sharing some, there would still be plenty left.
“I need to find another way…” Ethan massaged his temples, pushed the sweets aside, and continued reading.
[Exchanged Experience: +12] At around nine o’clock, Ethan locked the classroom door.
On a Friday night, absolutely no one had come to study with him!
And he had even prepared a detailed guide for button transfiguration.
As Ethan was about to leave, he spotted Professor McGonagall coming up the stairs.
He suddenly remembered that Professor McGonagall’s office was on the second floor.
“Good evening, Professor,” he greeted her promptly.
Professor McGonagall looked at him with some surprise.
“Good evening, Mr.
White.
Are you heading back to your dormitory?” “Yes, I was just about to head back.” Professor McGonagall nodded.
This child possessed qualities that distinguished him from the other little lions.
He wasn’t reckless, and when faced with trouble, his first instinct was never to beat someone up like the others did.
He was highly willing to help his classmates, showing immense generosity and selflessness, particularly when it came to sharing knowledge.
She had seen the notes Ethan made for the Hufflepuff badgers.
They were incredibly detailed; she had even copied a few to use as tutoring materials for the first-years next year.
Looking Ethan over, she noticed the large stash of sweets he was carrying and couldn’t help but ask, “Mr.
White, are those the sweets you received today?” “Yes, would you like some?
To be honest, there’s too much.
I’m not quite sure what to do with them all.” “If it were Dumbledore, he would be more than happy to share, but as for me, I would much prefer a mug of Butterbeer.” Professor McGonagall waved her hand with a smile, teasing, “If you find it troublesome, you could always visit the Headmaster’s office.
He has quite the sweet tooth.” Ethan gave a polite, slightly reserved smile and dashed off.
“Goodnight, Professor!” “Goodnight, Mr.
White!
No running in the corridors!” Ethan would never go looking for Dumbledore; in fact, he was doing his best to avoid him.
At the very least, before mastering Occlumency, he would never get too close to the Headmaster.
As for the sweets, he had a vague idea of what to do.
When he returned to the dormitory, his roommates were fooling around and play-fighting.
The moment they saw Ethan, they happily called out, “Quick, come here!
Have an Every Flavor Bean!” A scatter of sweet wrappers lay around them, which had naturally come from Ethan’s trunk.
“I’m not used to eating sweets before bed,” Ethan said, shaking his head and putting today’s haul into his trunk.
“Merlin’s beard, you received so many sweets again today!” Ron said with immense envy.
Ethan didn’t like eating sweets, so they helped him polish off most of them.
But even though they helped him eat them, none of them had ever received sweets from anyone else.
Harry also looked on in wonder.
“Were these sent by the Hufflepuffs?” Ethan hummed in affirmation.
Pointing to the bag of Every Flavor Beans in Ron’s hand, he asked thoughtfully, “How much does a bag of these Every Flavor Beans cost?” “Two Sickles!” Harry answered immediately.
“Chocolate Frogs are a bit more expensive because they come with a collectible card, but most other snacks are usually two Sickles.” The bag in Ron’s hand dropped to the floor with a soft plop.
He looked anxious as he asked, “Ethan…
are you planning to charge us?” Ethan chuckled.
“Don’t worry, Ron, eat all you want.
I wouldn’t do something like that.” In this dormitory, Ron was probably even poorer than he was.
Ron’s school robes, textbooks, and even his wand were secondhand.
As Ethan took off his robes, he said to them, “I just think these sweets are too expensive.
If everyone has to give me treats every time, it’s going to become a significant financial burden for many of them over time.
That goes against my original intention.” His roommates couldn’t help but nod.
Sweets were just snacks, after all.
It was fine to have them once in a while, but buying them every day would put a serious strain on most people’s wallets.
Like Ron, who had only around twenty-odd Sickles in his pocket this term; he couldn’t bear to spend them on sweets.
Neville asked, looking a bit troubled, “Are you going to stop accepting sweets, Ethan?” In fact, to show her gratitude to Ethan, Neville’s grandmother had specifically sent him extra money so he could buy more snacks.
If Ethan stopped accepting them, what was he supposed to tell his grandmother?
“Ethan, I think you deserve it,” Harry said.
“You’ve helped so many people.” Ron and Seamus nodded in agreement.
They had all received Ethan’s help first-hand and knew exactly how much heart and effort he put into it.
“No, I just plan to set some limits.
If I don’t accept anything at all, it would violate the principle of exchange.
Besides, who knows what new rumors might crop up then?” Ethan joked.
“For example, ‘Is Ethan White secretly receiving some under-the-table benefits from the school?
Is that why he stopped accepting sweets?'” The others burst into laughter.
Ron suddenly said, “Ethan, Fred and George are really well-informed.
I asked them to look into it, and they think the last rumor started from Ravenclaw.
They also guess the school probably knew about it long ago, because many of the portraits were ordered to keep quiet.” Harry nodded immediately.
“Exactly!
Last time, Ravenclaw suddenly lost a hundred points, and someone was given a month’s detention!
Maybe those were the rumor-mongers!” “We actually wanted to head over to Ravenclaw this afternoon to ask around,” Neville said timidly.
“But it’s a pity their password riddles are too hard.
We can’t get into their common room.” Harry and Ron immediately looked embarrassed.
Ethan chuckled.
“Thank you guys, but let’s just let it go.
It didn’t have that big of an impact anyway.” No wonder Dumbledore said that secrets have a way of getting out.
Perhaps, with determined people asking around, this castle really didn’t have any secrets at all.