Fel found himself becoming more and more interested in the Beater position.
It was violent, exhilarating, and required hitting Bludgers to knock opponents off balance amid high speed chaos.
Without a doubt, it was a tremendous test of agility, reflexes, strength, and endurance because if no one caught the Golden Snitch, a Quidditch match could continue indefinitely.
According to historical records, one Quidditch match had once lasted for three whole days!
Thinking about it that way, being a Quidditch Beater also seemed like a great way to stay fit.
Fel was starting to want to join the Quidditch team.
According to his plan, spell study, combat training, and physical conditioning were all supposed to progress together.
He could use Beater training and matches to strengthen his body while spending the rest of his time practicing spells!
Unfortunately, even if Fel wanted to join now, there was no room on the team.
Gryffindor’s Beaters were the Weasley twins, who were currently in their third year.
Fel thought it over.
By fifth year, wizards had to prepare for their OWLs, the Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations.
After that came the NEWTs in seventh year, the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests.
The Weasley twins also had to develop joke products and prepare to open their magical joke shop, so they would definitely become very busy, making Quidditch a low priority.
That meant when Fel reached third year and the twins were in fifth year, he should have the chance to replace them on the team.
That suited him perfectly.
He could spend his first and second years building a solid magical foundation and mastering the theory.
Fel had already finished reading the first year spell textbook.
Now that he had confirmed his extraordinary talent for offensive spells, he had no intention of slowing his development.
He had already sent an owl to Flourish and Blotts, ordering every Standard Book of Spells from second through seventh year, including Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, and the rest.
They would probably arrive tomorrow.
Fel intended to completely master every spell textbook during his first year.
Every other subject could wait.
…
At two o’clock that afternoon, Fel arrived at the common room on time.
Hermione was already waiting for him.
“Fel, what exactly are you being so mysterious about?”
Hermione asked impatiently.
“You’ve completely disrupted today’s study schedule.”
“Relax. It’ll be well worth it. Come with me.”
Fel waved casually and led Hermione out of the common room.
The eighth floor corridor was especially quiet.
Not a single person could be seen.
Fel brought Hermione to the spot in front of the Room of Requirement, pacing back and forth while thinking, ‘I need a place to practice spells.’
Sure enough, a door suddenly appeared.
Hermione’s mouth fell open.
“Oh my goodness! What is this? It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in Hogwarts: A History!”
Fel smiled mysteriously.
“No one knows every secret of Hogwarts.”
“A great wizard once said that Hogwarts will always help any student who truly needs help.”
Fel explained,
“This is the Room of Requirement. It becomes whatever kind of room you need.”
“You simply walk back and forth here while thinking about the place you need.”
“I was thinking about a place to practice spells.”
Fel pushed open the door and stepped inside first.
Without any hesitation, Hermione followed him in, her eyes full of curiosity.
The spell practice room looked almost the same as it had the first time.
“So, what do you think?”
“You can practice any spell you want here, especially offensive spells, without worrying about disturbing anyone else.”
Hermione’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“This is incredible! Hogwarts is even more magical than I imagined!”
Fel smiled.
“So… can this count as your birthday present?”
“Happy Birthday, Hermione.”
Hermione froze for a moment before slapping her forehead.
“The past few days have been so unbelievable that I completely forgot today was my birthday.”
“Well… yours too.”
“Happy Birthday, Fel.”
“Mum and Dad don’t have an owl, so I guess they can’t send us any presents.”
Actually, Fel had only just remembered as well.
Otherwise, he would have used an owl to buy a cake from Hogsmeade.
Fel’s birthday was not actually on the same day as Hermione’s.
There were only a few days between them, but celebrating separately was too troublesome.
After he had been taken in by the Granger family, they simply celebrated both birthdays together every year.
Hermione pouted.
“That won’t do.”
“I prepared your birthday present before we even started school.”
“You have to give me a present too.”
Then she sighed with disappointment.
“But… it’s a Muggle book.”
“It isn’t useful to you anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter, Hermione.”
“Let’s save it for Christmas.”
“Getting into Hogwarts is already the best birthday present we could have received.”
Fel comforted her.
Having accepted that, Hermione nodded.
“Alright.”
“So… are we going to practice spells here?”
“Exactly.”
“Hermione, I think that as wizards, our greatest priority should still be magic and combat ability.”
“You’ve read plenty of magical history, so you should know that the wizarding world isn’t exactly peaceful.”
Fel gave her a subtle reminder.
After all, Hogwarts was supposedly the safest place in the world, yet every year it somehow experienced a few little accidents.
Hermione nodded thoughtfully.
Even so, academic grades still ranked first in her mind for now.
She practiced spells mainly to improve her performance in Charms class.
War still felt unimaginably distant to first year students.
Especially since the wizarding world had appeared peaceful for the past ten years.
The two of them stayed inside the practice room for a full two hours.
By the end, they were completely exhausted.
“Fel… you’re amazing.”
“I can’t keep going anymore.”
Hermione panted heavily as sparkling beads of sweat rolled from her temples down along her chin.
“Alright, Hermione.”
“Let’s go.”
“I hope there’s still some orange juice left in the Great Hall.”
“My throat feels like it’s on fire.”
Unable to stand the sticky feeling of sweat any longer, the two decided to take showers first.
After finishing his own shower, Fel certainly wasn’t foolish enough to wait.
Hermione always took about twice as long as he did.
By the time he reached the Great Hall, he discovered that someone was still stuffing himself with food.
“Ron, didn’t you eat lunch?”
Fel asked curiously.
Since it was not mealtime, only fruit, desserts, and drinks remained on the tables.
The other students were either doing homework or playing Wizard’s Chess.
Only Ron was sitting there, desperately stuffing grapes into his mouth.
Harry spread his hands helplessly.
“Ron went straight back to the dorm after class this morning and slept for several hours.”
Fel rolled his eyes before saying,
“Well… today is Hermione’s and my birthday.”
“I’ve been wondering how we could get ourselves a birthday cake.”
“Oh… I don’t know.”
“Happy Birthday, Fel.”
Ron swallowed half a banana with great effort before asking in surprise,
“Happy Birthday, Fel.”
“So you two actually share the same birthday?”
“And I’ve wanted to ask this for ages.”
“You two are unbelievably close.”
“Is Hermione your girlfriend?”
Bang!
A book slammed heavily onto the table beside Ron, startling him so badly that he dropped the remaining half of his banana.
Fel looked up.
Perhaps it was because of the hot shower, but Hermione’s face was bright red.
Her skin looked as soft and delicate as water after her bath.
Her curly hair, still damp, had become much smoother.
“Ahem… no.”
“I was taken in by Hermione’s family.”
“The shared birthday is just a coincidence.”
“We’re family.”
Fel cleared his throat and briefly explained his situation.
“You’re really lucky, Fel.”
The envy overflowing from Harry’s face was impossible to miss.
If anyone else had said that, Fel would have wanted to punch them.
But Harry was the one exception.
After all, Harry’s childhood with the Dursleys had been absolutely miserable.
“Alright, Fel.”
“You wanted a birthday cake, right?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
Ron whispered mysteriously.