The Little Superman of Hogwarts

Dumbledore certainly wouldn't take Lucius Malfoy's words or threats to heart; it was more of a dark amusement—something Cree understood best, I believe.

A legendary wizard with a magic power of 200,000, when faced with the threat of an ant, his first reaction wouldn't be to crush it, but to play with it for a long time, like a child with a new toy, until he lost interest or was distracted by something else, then he would casually crush the ant or flick it away with a finger.

Cree once asked why Dumbledore displayed his apparent magical power as around 10,000. Was there any special meaning behind it?

Dumbledore replied, "It's a threshold, a mystical threshold... Only those who cross this threshold can be called a 'God'!"

In reality, this was indeed the case. Besides Dumbledore, the existence with the highest magical power was Snape, but even now, Snape's magical power was only a little over nine thousand six hundred, just a little short of reaching ten thousand. However, this small difference might limit Snape for the rest of his life...

From 9600 to 10000, this is a qualitative change... but Cree still hasn't been able to understand exactly what this "qualitative change" refers to.

After killing the Basilisk, Cree, Hermione, and the members of the 91 Squad became hot "super stars"! The entire Hogwarts was swept up in a frenzy surrounding them.

A few days later, on a new Monday morning, all the students were notified that a major ceremony would be held, and all young wizards were to wait in the Great Hall.

Around nine o'clock, the "Order of Merlin Award Ceremony" officially began.

Minister Fudge was the presenter. First, it was Cree and Hermione. As the direct leaders and commanders of the Basilisk battle, they were awarded a Second Class Order of Merlin, which was already the second Order of Merlin Cree had received.

Next were Harry and the other six—Harry, as the leader, also received a Second Class Order of Merlin. Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Cedric were awarded Third Class Orders of Merlin. Seamus was still petrified; his medal was collected by Professor McGonagall and temporarily stored.

After that, it was the centaur tribe—Chief Firenze, Second Class Order of Merlin—this was extremely rare because the Order of Merlin was generally only awarded to humans, and magical creatures were usually not eligible. However, the Basilisk incident was indeed too significant. The Basilisk shocked the entire British Isles. In the past few days, villagers from Hogsmeade had been overlooking the Basilisk's corpse from the high walls of Hogwarts.

The centaur warriors were additionally awarded a "Merlin Friendship Medal." This thing was actually just an informal toy, a perfunctory item, but the centaurs, unaware of the inside story, were very happy.

There were also some small stories behind this—the initial Order of Merlin didn't include these ordinary centaurs, so Cree put in a lot of effort—first, by pressuring the Ministry of Magic through Dumbledore, and second, by having Collins bribe some Ministry of Magic officials... It's perfectly normal for money to make the world go round!

The Basilisk's corpse was eventually taken away by the Ministry of Magic for research—Cree secretly kept a jar of Basilisk blood—he was waiting to use this to destroy Voldemort's diary!

The Basilisk craze lasted for almost two weeks, and it wasn't until two weeks later that Cree could use the Time-Turner normally. Otherwise, it would be too conspicuous, with people watching him all the time...

This semester could be said to have passed quickly, because Christmas was coming soon! The festive atmosphere in the school gradually became stronger...

Hermione, however, encountered a bit of a problem.

"Now the effective time of the Antidote Charm has decreased from three hours to one hour. I've calculated that if we use it a few dozen more times, it will decrease from one hour to ten minutes!" Cree said to Hermione. The Antidote Charm could indeed undo the effects of the Petrification Curse, but as the number of times the Antidote Charm was used this semester increased, Hermione's "drug resistance" was gradually increasing!

Initially, one Antidote Charm could last for eight hours. Cree only needed to cast it three or four times a day to ensure Hermione's normal activities. Hermione could even use the Time-Turner to sneak into higher-grade courses to study, but about a month ago, the time had decreased to five hours, and two weeks ago it had decreased to three hours. But in the past few days, Hermione's body's "drug resistance" to the Antidote Charm had increased too quickly!

It only took a few days to decrease to less than an hour, and Cree had calculated the time several times, using the [Simulation Function] method to draw a curve. The result was that in just two more days, Hermione's drug resistance would increase to an incredible level, which would be extremely dangerous!

Cree even guessed that if it were used one or two hundred more times, even Mandrake Restorative Draught might not be able to restore Hermione to normal, which would be a complete disaster!

Hermione was also very frustrated now, which meant that she could only be active for a few dozen more hours at most, or even, for safety's sake, only for a few more hours.

"Christmas is coming soon. Could you bring my parents to Hogwarts? At least let them see me with their own eyes?" Hermione said to Cree, "If there's a problem, I'll personally ask Professor McGonagall."

"Of course it's not a problem!" Cree explained.

Hermione nodded in satisfaction, but with her second nod, Hermione seemed to freeze instantly—she was petrified again!

Cree helplessly straightened Hermione's hat, tidied up her wizard hat and coat, and placed them on the bed. Then, he picked up Hermione, placed her on her side on the bed, and covered her with a blanket. Then, he used several trap curses and protection charms to completely protect Hermione's body.

After doing all this, he looked back at Seamus and Colin lying on the side, sympathized with them for two seconds, and then left the hospital wing.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

During dinner that evening, Cree stopped Ginny and informed her about Hermione's situation.

Ginny looked very calm. She ate a mouthful of mashed potatoes from her plate, chewing as she said, "Hermione actually told me already. I was mentally prepared, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. She thought it would be at least until next semester. And at that time, the Mandrakes will be almost mature."

"Unfortunately, the Mandrakes won't mature for at least five months. And the medicine enough to treat three people needs to be brewed for at least half a month. That is to say, before June 1st next year, I think we won't be able to see a lively Hermione," Cree calculated the time, his words filled with a sense of frustration.

"Is there anything we need to do for Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Cree wanted to say that he would arrange it and she didn't need to worry, but suddenly he seemed to have thought of a key point: "I think there really is one thing we can do... and that is the true secret of the Chamber of Secrets!"

After Cree said this, he gave Goyle in the distance a meaningful look. Goyle seemed to sense something. He looked up at his surroundings, not noticing Cree's hidden gaze in the distance.

Goyle hurriedly dropped the half-eaten delicacy and left the Great Hall.

Cree and Ginny both watched Goyle, and when Goyle left the Great Hall, they exchanged a knowing glance and nodded to each other.