Fail Demon King

I don't know about you, but it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.A part of Muggles - according to their words, the part that is not very religious - began to study their 'witchcraft', hoping to achieve some of the purposes they wanted to achieve.This kind of reassuring-than-practical research has drawn heavily on herbs and animals, with little success.Turn to page 430 of the book, let's take a look at some popular spelling graphics at that time..."

Billy couldn't hold it anymore. He felt that Professor Spink's voice was slowly fading away, but Tom's occasional rustle of notes on parchment seemed to be infinitely prolonged, and it sounded all the way to his eardrums.

"...soon they realized this: salvation in this world is nonsense, and the real meaning is to pursue the eternal life of the soul. Yes, this has also puzzled the wizarding world for centuries. The famous Nicole Flamel began to study the mystery of immortality using alchemy as a medium since the thirteenth century. However, rather than saying that people are pursuing immortality in the body, all the mysteries actually exist in the soul..."

--hiss!

Someone poked him hard in the waist with a wand, and Billy sat up straight in pain.He sat up too violently, his upper and lower teeth moved together, and he bit his tongue violently.Tom was frowning at him, and just as he covered his mouth and gasped softly, a shadow fell beside him.

"Give a demonstration on the podium with Mr. Riddle, Mr. Stubbs." Professor Spink stood beside him and said in a flat tone, but judging from the tightened wrinkles of the old lady, she was obviously very angry , "——this is the third time I said it!"

Billy broke free from a dizzy doze and blinked hard.He stood up in embarrassment—Merlin, what did old Spink ask him to demonstrate?

Tom helped Billy up just in time before he tripped over the chair, and then the top student who was probably the only sober student in the class calmly pulled his bewildered partner onto the podium.

Until the end of get out of class was approaching, Professor Binske did not break free from her dry and serious demeanor:

"Mr. Stubbs, Mr. Buster, Miss Searle, and Miss Finknotto, please do me a favor and remember, this is not a spell-hypnosis class!"

Someone below muttered in a low voice: "Really not?"

She said sharply: "Ten points for Slytherin and Gryffindor, twenty points for Hufflepuff!" When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, the old lady added reluctantly, "Thank you Mr. Riddle for your demonstration." , five points for Slytherin."

"I don't even know what she was talking about..." Billy said drowsily, as he walked down the corridor with Tom, "seriously, she must have put some sleeping spell in the classroom... "

"That's pretty much it. She told an old requiem spell that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times." Tom paused, then flashed a smirk at Billy. "I think it works— Look, I think you're much calmer now."

This is not true.At least half a dozen of their classmates were suffering the back effects of the spell from failed practice, rushing past them like raging dragons.

Billy also responded to the nasty top student with a smirk: "In fact, I only felt its strong reaction. I really can't control the urge to attack you-where are you going? Then There is no class, and our way back to the common room is here."

Tom stopped. He took out an old pocket watch, looked at it, and said casually, "I'm going to the library. You go back alone. See you at lunch—or dinner."

He strode away without looking back, the corner of his robes raised behind him.

Billy stood where he was, blinking for no reason—for some reason, he suddenly felt wide awake.

19 a regular physical examination

December of 1940 came so unexpectedly, a heavy snowfall seemed to herald the early arrival of Christmas, and they fell all day and night.

When Billy woke up, he was not surprised to find that he was alone in the dormitory again.The green hangings on Tom's bed were fastened to the bedposts, and the dark green velvet coverlet was neatly made.Nagini was idly swimming up and down the carpet, spitting and hissing.Seeing Billy woke up, the little snake swam up to his bed aggrievedly, tilting his head to look at him.

"Okay Nagini," Billy said sleepily, yawning, "he's not here. I think he went to the library or the trophy room—don't complain, I'll take you to Victor in a minute." .”

Nagini seemed very dissatisfied with his perfunctory attitude, she raised her neck and hit Billy's chin hard.She is now as thick as a forearm, and such revenge is definitely not a fun thing.Billy snorted, then grabbed Nagini, rolled in the blanket with her, and reached out to pick at her scales.

Just when Nagini was spitting out letters and cursing Billy in despair and despair, there was a sudden "beep beep" sound from the bedside - the communication badge was shining brightly.

Billy stretched out a hand to press it, and Tom's voice came from there, still in the tone of a natural command: "Get up, Billy. Come to the school hospital in ten minutes."

"You are--?"

"Don't be silly, of course I'm in the library."

Billy exchanged glances with Nagini, who only had a triangular flat head peeking out from under the quilt—sure enough!

The little snake's eyes moved, seized the opportunity, and eagerly hissed and spit out the letter.

"Okay," continued Tom, unhurriedly, his voice lowered probably because he was in the library, "now let go of Nagini, I hear her pleading for help. Don't waste time, I'm very happy. Busy, come quickly."

With the disappearance of his voice, the light of the communication badge also went out.

"You sue!" Billy squinted at Nagini, who had slipped from under him unwillingly. "You cheated - just because I'm not a Parseltongue!" He jumped out of bed, began to wash quickly, and took off his clothes. Change pajamas into robes.

The little snake kept flapping her tail very happily.

"Enough of Nagini," Billy gave her a warning look before heading out the door, "stop shaking your head and showing that disdainful look, or I'll turn you into a rope. Tom has given me enough." ...remember you're a snake, and give the Slytherin symbol some dignity."

He rushed out of the dormitory in a hurry, it was a weekend morning, Slytherins were not used to getting up early, and there were very few people in the common room.In the dark underground passage, a pair of students are clinging to the corner of the wall, no doubt they are indulging in a passionate kiss.

Billy opened his eyes slightly, walked quickly and without squinting - the girl's white dressing gown and the boy's platinum-blonde hair were really dazzling even under the dim torchlight.

In the school hospital.

Tom folded his arms and stood there coldly: "You're 5 minutes late."

"...yeah," Billy gasped, and it took him thirty seconds to catch his breath. "I should get a Thunder 30 to fly over, shouldn't I?"

Tom raised an eyebrow, but for the sake of Billy's pale face, he finally did it and said nothing.

"Speaking of which," Billy was dragged by Tom and walked into the ward, "what did you ask me to do here?"

"Don't be kidding me, Billy," said Tom impatiently, "you're not going to forget that today is your regular check-up day, are you?" He paused, then turned to Billy with narrowed black eyes, Softly, yet menacingly, "Oh Merlin, I should have known - seriously, you did forget, didn't you?"

Billy touched his nose and denied it without hesitation: "No, I haven't forgotten."

Tom frowned, and made a decisive conclusion: "You just forgot."

"...Now that you're sure," Billy said dryly, "then why are you asking me?"

Tom snorted. Since the expression on his face was so unattractive that his thin lips seemed to be twisted, Billy kept his mouth shut obediently.At this moment, Madam Pomfrey came in from the door with a big cup, and Billy couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief, thanking her for coming in just right, otherwise he would have heard many harsh words from Tom .

"Quickly, drink this." She said bluntly, "then lie flat on the bed."

Without waiting for her to finish speaking, Billy obediently took the large glass of pearly white potion and drank it one gulp after another.This thing actually tastes good. The moonshine grass fruit can only be picked when the moon is full. After cooling, it will show a white moonlight-like texture, and the taste is cool and refreshing.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Billy with satisfaction, and then turned to Tom: "The only thing to pay attention to is to avoid light when squeezing the fruit juice. But of course it is not difficult for you, is it?"

Tom pursed his lips and nodded.

Billy peeked a little over the rim of his glass and looked at the two of them suspiciously.

Madam Pomfrey continued: "Excellent. It seems that you can make medicine for him in the future, so it will be more convenient when the summer vacation comes."

Billy choked sharply, coughed, and swallowed the last mouthful of the medicine: "I don't see...no need..."

Tom looked at him with raised eyebrows: "Do you have an opinion on this?"

"…No. I just feel—"

"Then lie flat on the bed."

"..."

Madam Pomfrey told Billy not to move or speak, and her wand shot him a pale blue beam.Billy felt something suck in his chest and head, and his mind seemed to be on the edge of a precipice, about to fall into an abyss.

"...he's alright," he vaguely heard Madam Pomfrey say in the trance, "look, you can only see a little double image, not as strong as last time... this is moonshine herb decoction Adhesive stabilization effect..."

Tom said something in a low voice that Billy didn't catch.Madam Pomfrey seemed to be laughing, and her voice became more and more indistinct: "...Yes, the situation is not bad so far, you don't have to be too...really, sometimes you are like Stubbs' guardian... ..."

—Tom is his guardian?Stop kidding about Merlin.

Billy tried to retort, but he couldn't move, not even talk.The surrounding sounds became farther and farther away, and in the next second, his consciousness fell into a blue mist.

When Billy woke up, the snow had stopped outside the window.Hogwarts has become a world of ice and snow, the towering spiers and the dark lake are covered with white snow.

Billy went to lunch with Tom, who was going to the library again soon.

"You're so busy," Billy said with a frown. "It's stressful. Every time I see you, I think finals are coming up." One thing, "Since you are so busy, let me make the medicine myself in the future."

Tom looked as if he didn't take it seriously at all: "It's not that I don't believe in your potions results, Billy, but let's wait until you can remember the date for the medical examination and medication on time." He looked at In front of you, striding forward, "Sometimes I really can't help but wonder if you don't take your life seriously at all."

"You obviously don't allow me to say life and death—"

"I can say, you can't."

—Yeah, being Tom Riddle, it's not surprising that there's such a dominatrix.Billy swallowed dryly, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "I should have thought of it... Maybe it's because I don't feel too scared—"

Billy wasn't sure, but he had thought about it countless times, maybe when his soul left this body, he could naturally return to his age.Only one thought made him sweat: what if he couldn't get back?

"Huh?" Tom looked sideways at him, as if waiting for him to finish.

Billy smiled wryly and touched his nose: "—because I don't think I'm going to die."

Tom narrowed his eyes and said in a drawn-out voice, "You better have this self-awareness. Go back and write your thesis on the history of magic. You have to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

Tom quickened his pace, and Billy could hardly keep up with him: "As soon as Hogsmeade is mentioned, I have a question: How on earth did you get Mrs. Cole to sign the guardian's consent form?"

"She drank too much gin and thought it was a consent form to volunteer at school or something like that." Tom was impatient, but he answered the question anyway.After a while, he suddenly blinked quickly and gave Billy a narrow smirk, "Speaking of which, the consent form I gave you should actually be signed by me."

Before Billy could blurt out a word to curse Merlin, the tall black-haired boy walked away quickly. He didn't look back, but just stretched out his hand perfunctorily, and waved casually at Billy behind him.

Billy, who had been thrown alone in the corridor for an unknown number of times recently, felt accustomed to it, so he walked towards West Tower alone indifferently, intending to see Victor.

——Tom must have his intentions if he doesn't want to be followed, and it is definitely not wise to defy the future Dark Lord.And in truth, Billy felt he had gotten more friendship from Tom than he could have ever imagined, or anyone else had dared to hope for.

He looked out of the window from the corridor. The weather outside the window was gloomy, and it seemed that it was going to snow again.

Sure enough, it snowed intermittently that night.So when the students walked to Hogsmeade the next day, they couldn't help but feel that the road was extremely difficult.Billy touched his nose, which was red with cold, and caught a glimpse of Tom casting a Cleansing Charm on the back corner of his robes to get rid of those annoying mud spots.

This snow made the students walking on the road excited to play.The Ravenclaws waved their wands to make the snow on the ground, and the Gryffindors almost had a snowball in their hands, and they had a snowball fight on the road.It was divided between offense and defense, and it looked like Hattok's side had the upper hand—they had a huge advantage, with a boy taller than an apple tree who was big enough to withstand all the snowballs that came flying.

The Slytherins were still walking with their heads upright, but quite a few of them were glancing at the snow hanging from the surrounding trees out of the corner of their eyes.Billy secretly messed with Tom, deliberately casting small explosion spells into the melted snow, causing them to splatter, specifically to counter Tom's cleansing spell.

He hadn't been very good at wand magic, even in his seventh year, so the splashes were nowhere near as fast as Tom could clean them up.But Billy was not discouraged, and he kept working on it with gusto until--

A voice sounded beside him, and the ending was dragged out slowly: "You think this is fun?"

Billy looked up and smiled awkwardly.

Tom's dark eyes were close at hand.The tall boy smirked elegantly, and he didn't look angry, he just turned slightly sideways in Billy's daze—a big snowball flew over from Gryffindor, "Pa With a thud, it slammed into Billy's forehead.

20 A mysterious man in a hood

Billy wiped the snow and ice off his face, and finally opened his eyes. The group of irresponsible Gryffindors who hurt innocent people had already gone far away.He resentfully cast a cleansing spell on his face, then took out a fluffy ball from his robe pocket, and threw it at the gloating Tom.

—of course it missed.

The little fluffy ball chirped angrily and flapped its wings so high that it swooped down and pecked at Billy's head.That's Victor the owl.Billy raised his elbow in embarrassment to block it, and Tom took the opportunity to give a short mocking laugh.

By the time Billy finally got Victor's forgiveness and put the little owl back in his robe pocket, they could see the Screaming Shack outside Hogsmeade.Like half of the Hogwarts students, the first thing they do is pop into Honeydukes to see what new candy they have coming out this month.

"Look, that's exactly what I was looking for," Billy said, walking to a black shelf, carefully avoiding a humming insect-like candy next to him, "Vanilla jack-o'-lanterns! You can put it next to your bed, not only can you light up in the middle of the night, but you can break off a small piece to eat at any time. I waited for half a semester, and they finally made it... Well, and this... Damn, at the end The shelves above—”

Tom, who was following behind, stretched out his hand to help Billy take it down. The black-haired boy frowned and looked at the colorful balls in the box: "What are these?"

"Sherry mints, here's for you—come on, Tom, don't look at me like that, you'll see how it works when you stay up late again. We can get a dozen..."

"What is that in your left hand?"

"You don't know?" Billy looked up at Tom, lowered his head and continued to rummage in a blue box, "Obviously you come with me every time." He spread his palms towards Tom, "Here, Some rock candy mice, Nagini and Viktor love to eat like hell." As if in response, Viktor in his pocket chirped happily twice.

"Devisa-Libisandei-Sparknera."

Billy was stunned: "What?"

"You don't know?" Tom crossed his arms and said slowly, "Obviously you and I take the weekly study of medieval spells with me."

"..."

This is an obvious Tom-style revenge, and it's hard to live if you're serious with him every day, so Billy just touched his nose: "Yeah, I should have known, your gifted head doesn't Not wasting space on this stuff. Let's go."

Tom dragged his voice hatefully: "What are you going to do?"

Billy coughed twice dryly: "It's all right, you know, all our money is on you - go and pay the bill."

There was a slight delay of 2 minutes when they settled the payment because Billy suddenly saw that he had a [-]% discount on some of the candies he was holding, and they were only three Sickles short.And while he was struggling to figure out what else to buy, Tom had paid impatiently.

"That would have saved a lot!" Billy said angrily to Tom as they walked out of Honeydukes' cellar. "Enough to buy us two more chocolate blackberry pies later."

If Billy was still Owen in his previous life, this sentence would probably be laughed to death by his cousin Ivan and his proud partner.Young masters born in aristocratic families never worry about money, but Billy has become more budget-conscious in recent years, and sometimes he can't wait to split a Knut in half.

"If you want to calculate something next time, just tell me the price." Tom narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't want to stand there and wait for you to go to hell."

Billy didn't speak, he looked like he was in a daze.

Tom frowned: "What's wrong?"

"Shhh—" Billy tilted his head cautiously, and said nervously, "I think I heard something, listen."

A faint cry came from the crowd in front of them, and amidst the noise, the snow fell from the pine trees beside them.The students passing by all looked sideways in one direction, and then carefully avoided it, just like some girls avoid the cockroach group in the Honeydukes store.

"I wish I was jumpy," Billy shuddered slightly, "but the cry sounds familiar to me. Did you hear that?"

"I'm not sure you'll remember it, but it was probably a girl with a round face, black hair, and glasses." Tom said calmly. He raised his head and looked over the crowd. "What's her name?" And the name—some kind of plant?"

"Stop talking, let's go!" Billy began to sweat, he hastily pulled Tom away, "By the way, is her name a Mandrake?"

Billy clung to Tom as he walked quickly, and the cry clung to him as if under a tracking spell, until they crashed into the Three Broomsticks in a hurry.Among the boisterous guests, Billy let go of Tom's hand with a sigh of relief.Tom looked down at the palm of his hand, his fingers were sweating from Billy's grip.

"When she's crying, she'll grab someone and never let go," Billy gasped, his ears flushed from the cold, "that's just my experience."

"Oh——" Tom blinked and gave a smirk, "You're talking about that first-year encounter in the underground tunnel? I must say, you've always had a unique experience."

"Come on, Mr. Laughing," Billy said feebly, looking at him, "for Merlin's sake, you're not gloating for a second every day. I'm going to the Davis-Bance store to get some Boy, would you like to go with me, or have a drink here and wait for me to come back?"

In reply, Tom generously took three Galleons from their purse and put them in Billy's pocket: "It's not that I'm grudging about walking to the corner with you, it's just that I really don't want to hear that sob again— — Good luck to you, Billy."

Billy staggered visibly, handed Victor and the bag of candy to Tom in his pocket, gave him a hard look, and strode out.

The Three Broomsticks is always a clean and bright place, and Mr. Rosmerta's wife is an important reason for the constant flow of guests here.Occasionally, there are even funny rappers performing here, they sing the music with Spanish characteristics, and change the lyrics to "the liquor girl behind the counter, we adore you", but in exchange for the demure Mrs. Mark smile.But this kind of singing makes every guest sitting here willing to stay a little longer, spend five Sikes, and drink an extra glass of sage brandy.

Tom sat down at a table near the corner and ordered two butterbeers.Viktor was chattering non-stop, and the bubbles in those cups made him so overwhelmed that he tried to peck the bubbles with his barbed beak.

Tom picked up the little owl from the cup by the feathers from the nape of Victor's neck. He narrowed his eyes impatiently and said softly, "Sometimes you are as noisy as your master."

Victor's eyes widened, he chirped unwillingly, and flapped his wings vigorously in his hands.

"It looks more similar this way," Tom said mischievously, and he suddenly smiled slightly, "although it's hard to tell who is more likely to be stupid, you or him." He took out his wand, and Victor turned into a yellow-haired man Ball, then put the little owl away safely and began to drink his butterbeer slowly.

At this moment, a deep sneer suddenly came from the corner.

Tom put down the butterbeer and caught a glimpse of someone sitting not far from him out of the corner of his eye.The man was wearing a beige robe with a wide hood that reached to his forehead.Tom frowned, tapped his left index finger on the table lightly, and waved his wand again seemingly casually, transforming Victor back again.

"Ha!" The laughter was more obvious this time.

Tom is sure.He tilted his head slightly, narrowed his black eyes, and the man whose face was half hidden in the hood met his gaze without hesitation.

The man in the hood has a very ordinary face, and the few strands of hair exposed are dazzling golden.He looked haggard, with a cold, cynical smile in his blue eyes.He whispered hoarsely, "Transfiguration is pretty good, kid, you must have a good teacher. But Hogwarts probably can only teach you so much."

Tom didn't say a word, just looked at him blankly.

"Why," the man held up his half-empty glass at Tom, his fingernails stained with mud in the sunlight, "do you want to buy me a drink?"

Tom answered coldly and curtly, "No."

The man laughed, his laugh was very low, as rough as sandpaper scratching one's eardrums, and it was extremely unpleasant.He laughed for a long time before he stopped, and nodded slowly: "I have talent, I can see it, and I also have..." His voice, which seemed to be talking to himself, became lower, almost inaudible.After a while, he suddenly looked up at Tom and grinned, "Okay. But what a pity, I might be able to teach you something else—something you can't learn at Hogwarts, yours." Transfiguration teacher will never teach."

Tom's dark eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked out of the window. Billy hadn't come back yet—the Davis-Bance store was at the end of Center Street after all, and he probably had to walk a while.

The winter sun shines on the street, showing a white light, and the snow on the branches begins to fall as it melts, and is trampled muddy by the pedestrians coming and going.

The Three Broomsticks was still noisy, and no one noticed this corner.

The man continued with interest, "How about it, kid? Or, let me buy you a drink?"

The little owl Victor seemed agitated. He kept trying to bump into the man. Tom patted his head and said, "Quiet." Although the voice was soft, it was undeniable.He turned to the man and said bluntly, "What I want to learn is up to me."

By the time Billy had bought everything he needed at Davis & Bains and returned to the Three Broomsticks, he was already sweating through the snowy winter.On the way back, he encountered another unfortunate coincidence—a girl was crying loudly in the middle of the road. After carefully avoiding her, he passed a few students standing there chatting, and then he realized that the poor girl had been raped by someone. Tricked with pepper bonbons.

That impatient guy Tom must be waiting impatiently.Thinking of this, Billy inevitably quickened his pace.When he walked to the Three Broomsticks panting, he couldn't help being startled the moment he opened the door—even though the tall black-haired boy was sitting in the corner, Billy saw him right away.Tom was sitting with a man in a hood, and a fluffy little owl was crouching on the corner of the table, panting indignantly, fluttering the feathers on its chest.

Billy walked over quickly just as the hooded man stood up.He heard the man gurgle one last word, adjust his hat, and stride past him.

As he passed, he had time to see just a few strands of blond hair and bright blue eyes.

21 A letter from a stranger

"What's going on?" Billy walked up to Tom and sat down beside Tom with a bunch of things in his arms. "Who is that guy? Do you know him?"

"It's nothing," said Tom nonchalantly. "I met you when I was with you. Just chat."

Billy blinked rapidly. He was silent for a while, then suddenly looked up at Tom. "Really? So he must speak good English."

Tom frowned: "What do you mean?"

"Blonde hair and blue eyes, obvious Germanic features." Billy said coldly, "And his last sentence, 'Say hello to Dumbledore for me', that's in German!"

Tom smiled sarcastically: "Thank you for the translation."

"Come on," said Billy warily, "what the hell did you say? You don't really think I believe you don't understand?"

"I do understand," snapped Tom impatiently, "just a sentence. I don't spend all my time in the library on magic, and I've also taken a short German elective this term, because I have a The class is a study of national language spells—the problem is," he said softly, lifting his chin and looking condescendingly at Billy, "you can't understand it anyway."

Billy leaned back slightly, rubbed his nose subconsciously to avoid Tom's aggressive gaze - he can understand a few words of French, which is not uncommon among purebloods with a bit of aristocratic education, only But Tom didn't know that.

But it's time to be honest, Billy said calmly, "I didn't waste time when you went to the library. Don't change the subject," he said seriously, and now it was his turn to look at Tom, "Is he Who told you what?"

"You're going to be like our Transfiguration professor," said Tom sharply. "You're going to be in every corner, and you're not letting go, like a buzzing insect. Shut up, Victor is quieter than you."

The more he concealed, the more suspicious he became—Billy was furious, but it was never a good idea to press on and make Tom angry.He let out a breath, sat there with his arms folded, pursed his lips and stopped talking.

After a while, the black-haired boy beside him spoke softly: "I think..." He said slowly, "We should go back."

Billy said nothing.

Sure enough, the guy went on, though he kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't sound like he was talking to Billy at all: "I don't know that guy, if you have to, I've never seen him before .”

Tom lowered his eyes, and tapped his left index finger restlessly on the table: "He came to talk to me, and he probably wanted to make some trouble for someone—we each got what we needed. There is no doubt that he was disguised, but I don't know if it's because of pride or stupidity that I didn't hide his obvious hair color and eyes...Of course," he thought that this was the end of the explanation, so he waved his hand impatiently and interrupted himself, "This is not related to yours. It doesn't matter. The main question is—" Tom looked dangerously at Billy, and whispered dangerously, "how on earth do you understand German?"

"I think we really should go." Billy said suddenly, he picked up the pile of things calmly, picked up Victor, and wiped the beer foam that stuck to the little owl's wings, "What the hell are you doing?" Taking care of Victor?"

Victor yelled aggrievedly twice.

"It's weird though," Billy murmured logically, "Look, why hasn't he grown up? It's been a few years, and he's only grown to the size of two fists. I don't think he can beat Nagini... "

This method of diverting the subject was simply horrible, but Tom only raised his eyebrows slightly, and didn't seem to want to pursue it further.They walked out of the Three Broomsticks. Under the sun, Billy couldn't help turning his head to look at Tom's perfectly lined profile, and then turned away silently.

This is probably a kind of agreement reached, and it is also a kind of lucky and delicate balance: they each have their own secrets, and although they know each other well, they do not interfere with each other, and the two are even.

Billy rubbed his nose and smiled self-deprecatingly—seems like a good idea, doesn't it?

"Speaking of which," Tom said suddenly, breaking the silence, as if the awkward conversation just now had never happened, "Why do you buy so many quills?"

Billy responded to him tacitly: "There is a discount today, look." He took out a poster from his robe pocket, and the quill on it quickly slid across the parchment, "Buy ten, get five free."

In general, nothing thrilling happened this school year again.It was probably because they had used up all the bad luck of the year from the Quidditch World Cup to the soul shock incident, and the following time was incredibly smooth and peaceful.

If there is any surprise, it is that Billy received a Thunder 260 simulation model from Tom on his birthday. He always thought that Tom didn't look down on the fun sport of Quidditch at all—" I do look down on it," said Tom dismissively, "but I can't stop you from being stupid, unfortunately."

Billy's birthday is on June [-], at