No one knew what Professor McGonagall and Aileen had discussed.
It wasn't until lunchtime that Hermione and the others saw Aileen again in the Great Hall.
Unlike the Hufflepuff robes she wore in the morning, Aileen had changed into the plain wizarding robes she wore on the first day of school. The emblem on her chest had also changed from the Hufflepuff crest to the Hogwarts crest. However, this didn't make Hermione jealous. What truly complicated her feelings was...
“What? You're exempt from Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for the rest of the year?!”
“More or less... with a perfect score.”
Aileen nodded, skillfully adding beef to each of the little chick's plates while casually answering.
“Professor McGonagall knows about my ‘descendant of the Dark Lord’ background. There's no point in a descendant of the Dark Lord learning Defense Against the Dark Arts, right? Besides, Umbridge isn't qualified to teach me. But I still need to brush up on some basic knowledge. Professor Lupin will give me private tutoring afterward.”
“Perfect score, and private tutoring from Professor Lupin—”
Hermione's knife froze in mid-air. The beef bourguignon on her plate suddenly lost its appeal.
Noticing the little beaver's disappointment, Aileen thought for a moment and proactively tried to comfort her.
“Don't worry. Starting this year, my grades won't be included in the annual ranking. There's a high chance you can become the top of the year.”
“Who cares about being top of the year? You already got all the possible points last year anyway—”
Hermione grumbled quietly, angrily chopping the pile of pitiful beef on her plate.
Since being promoted to "Justice-in-Training" Miss, she had thought she and Aileen were finally on equal footing, ready for a fair competition at the end of the term. She had prepared for this for a long time, but who knew this white-haired puffball would just run off the track without a word?
Before Hermione could finish venting, Hannah's muffled voice came over.
“Granger, don't be too optimistic. Even if Aileen is out of the ranking, you're not guaranteed to get first place.”
“Hmm?” The little beaver raised her eyebrows slightly.
“It wasn't me who said that. It was Luna just now…”
Hannah chewed diligently with her chubby cheeks, betraying her best friend without hesitation.
“Exams aren't about inspiration or guessing. They're based on knowledge and accumulation. 'Feelings' don't really work for that. Besides, Luna thought Cedric and Cho Chang weren't a good match before, but didn't she guess wrong?”
Hermione glanced at the big guy who was grinning foolishly at the Ravenclaw table in the right front and said nonchalantly.
“There are no shortcuts to learning and exams—”
“Actually…”
Aileen opened her mouth, preparing to correct a few things.
Boom!
“Percy, Weasley—”
A loud bang suddenly came from the Gryffindor table, followed by a series of urgent reprimands.
Everyone subconsciously turned their heads to look over there. The Gryffindor prefect, model student Percy Weasley, was standing stiffly in his seat. In front of him was a burned-out Howler. Because the Howler was too short and too urgent, most people didn't hear the words clearly.
However, judging from the scattered words and phrases, Mrs. Weasley seemed to be blaming him for not taking good care of his younger siblings at school.
And with the burned-out Howler, almost no one noticed that an owl had landed on Ginny Weasley's lap.
“What happened? Percy? What did you do to make Mom angry?”
Fred glanced at the pile of ashes with lingering fear, looking gleefully at Percy, who seemed to have been hit by a tidal wave.
He was no stranger to Mom's outbursts of anger over the years, but before this, most of the anger was directed at him and George. As the family's recognized "good boy," this seemed to be the first time he remembered Percy being scolded by Mom.
“It's not Percy's fault. The Diggorys didn't keep their promise. They told on us to our parents—”
Without waiting for Percy to answer, Ginny Weasley tore open the letter and quickly scanned it.
“You should worry about yourself first, Fred—Mom said in the letter that Dad will come to Hogwarts in a few days, and he'll talk to each of us individually. Those things you asked Mr. Diggory to help organize and purchase are probably exposed. My Pygmy Puff is gone too, and Mom also told us that we must correct our mistakes and not interfere with Cedric's silly romance, otherwise… You know Mom—”
“Uh, what do we do now? If…”
George Weasley frowned, glancing unwillingly at Cedric not far away.
In fact, from the beginning, they hadn't gotten along particularly well with that Hufflepuff "pretty boy" Quidditch captain.
This wasn't just about the grudges and disputes on the field between the two houses, but more importantly, although they didn't want to admit it, Cedric Diggory was indeed a "Hogwarts heartthrob" in terms of looks, character, and academics. Whether it was the girls on the Gryffindor team, or their respective girlfriends, or the female classmates around them, most of them would make some very unpleasant giggles when they talked about that pretty boy.
“Why don't we ask the Big Sister for advice?”
At this moment, Ron said cautiously.
“Ginny, I remember Hermione, Cho Chang, and you are on good terms, right?”
“Yeah, that's what I thought—”
Ginny nodded angrily, glaring resentfully at Cedric, who was looking over with concern.
As the president of the Hogwarts "Witch Squad" fan club, Ginny naturally knew what to do—compared to those useless boys, the four second-year "Witch" goddesses were too dazzling. Not only the lower years, but even the upper years had many members.
However, Ron's guess was slightly off this time.
Because Hermione, Luna, and Aileen were too dazzling, the liaison for the "Witch Squad" was...
…………
“Eh?! You want us to find a way… mmm—”
After lunch, Hannah looked at the little fan who had quietly pulled her aside for help.
Actually, she had thought about telling Aileen and the others about the "Witch Squad" fan club before.
However, with Ginny and the others calling her "Hannah-senpai" and "Witch Idol," plus her promotion to "Chariot-in-Training," Hannah felt that she could handle these simple fan worship problems well. After all, she was a signboard girl at the Leaky Cauldron!
As for when to tell Aileen and the others, she planned to wait and see…
At least… at least wait until she had accomplished something to prove that she wasn't a total airhead before telling them.
After thinking for a few seconds, Hannah patted her chest seriously and quickly promised.
“No problem! I'll think of something first, and tell you by dinner at the latest—just wait for my good news!”
“Don't worry, we the ‘Witch Squad’ will definitely not stand idly by!”
————
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Grumble~