#457 - invite
Thursday wasn't a day packed with classes for Wade. He only had two overlapping elective courses in the morning, Herbology in the afternoon, and Astronomy in the evening.
However, because he needed to set aside time for Professor Mori's Alchemy lessons, Wade still woke up very early to pick up the wolf cub from the school infirmary.
As always, he skipped the long corridors and stairs in between, and instead rode his broom, flying unhurriedly along the windows, arriving outside the infirmary window a minute later.
Wade placed his hand on the window, and with a silent, wandless unlocking charm, the inner latch silently turned half a circle. He pulled open the window, and just as he was about to go in, he suddenly heard a voice—
"Ah!" Malfoy screamed, sounding like he had suddenly jumped out of bed.
Wade paused, thinking he might have found the wrong window.
He was about to quietly turn and leave when he heard someone else speaking inside.
"Good morning, Draco," a girl said in a slightly teasing voice. "Sorry, it seems like the way I woke you up was a little rough."
"Are you crazy? What are you doing?" Malfoy said angrily. "My bed is all wet now! Madam Pomfrey will be here any minute!"
The others in the room laughed together, with a hint of mockery, as if they found his reaction very childish.
Wade cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and hovered openly outside the window, looking inside.
Five or six students stood around Malfoy's bed, seemingly surrounding him. Malfoy jumped out of bed, dripping wet, looking rather embarrassed.
Wade glanced at them, noting a few names, and then his gaze fell on the only familiar face.
Carrill.
He was a few years younger than the others, but he wasn't short, and he blended in seamlessly among them.
Wade suddenly felt like he hadn't seen Carrill in a long time… Actually, when he thought about it, they had spoken before the holidays, but it had only been a little over a month, and he felt like Carrill had changed a lot.
His originally somewhat round face had become much thinner, his eyes had calmed down, as if he had suddenly grown several years older, and even had a sense of vicissitudes.
At this moment, while everyone else was laughing, Carrill had a faint expression, his eyelids drooping, as if he hadn't woken up yet.
"Don't make such a fuss, Draco," another boy said, laughing. "A little spell can solve this problem. Didn't you learn it in Charms class?"
He waved his wand, and the water on the bed disappeared, leaving only a faint trace of moisture.
"Sorry, I don't need to learn these… what's it called? Household magic? What, can't your family afford house-elves?" Malfoy sneered.
The boy stopped laughing, but didn't get angry, and instead shrugged and said, "Not every family can be like the Malfoys, able to continuously increase the wealth left by their ancestors, instead of squandering it all away."
"What, you really don't even have a house-elf anymore?" one of his companions asked in surprise, with a kind of naive innocence.
"There's one, but Blue is very old," the boy explained. "Although my mother allows him to breed, you know… it's not that easy."
"Okay, let's not mention those lowly house-elves anymore. I feel disgusted just thinking about their faces," a girl said arrogantly. "Draco, you haven't been to a gathering in a long time. Are you going to quit?"
"Don't you know? I've been in detention all the time! It's all because of that spell you taught me… that damn Entrail-Expelling Curse! I'm going to be in detention for a whole year!" Malfoy said very dissatisfied.
The boy quickly stopped him, saying, "Shh—shh—Quiet! Do you want to attract Madam Pomfrey?"
Someone else laughed and said, "You can't blame us for that. I warned you a long time ago that this spell is very dangerous, but it's very satisfying to use—isn't it? Weren't you happy when you used it to retaliate against the traitor?"
"Happy?" Malfoy said stubbornly. "I was almost disgusted to death!"
"Okay, I have to go to class," the arrogant girl said. "Malfoy, we have a gathering at the usual place this evening. If you want to attend, make an excuse that your injury hasn't healed and ask for a day off. Of course, if you want to quit, you just need to…"
She paused and said with a smile, "…say the word."
Her smile was meaningful, as if to say—dare to quit and I'll wring your head off.
A moment later, Malfoy's voice sounded in the room: "…I'll come."
"That's for the best."
A group of people filed out, and the boy at the back even stole a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from in front of the bed.
Malfoy clenched the ring in his hand tightly, standing by the bed with an uncertain expression.
Wade didn't watch any longer. He gently turned his broom and left the window.
He remembered the incident when Malfoy injured Crabbe, and his parents rushed to the school to deal with it.
But the reality was the opposite. Draco Malfoy's detention this time was extremely strict. Every day, he was either in class or in detention, and he could only ask Professor Snape for some time to finish his homework during detention.
It was said that Professor Snape would also help him look at his essays during detention. If it were any other professor, this would be a rare learning opportunity, but with Snape's style, Draco Malfoy was probably undergoing mental torture every day.
It was said that he had cried himself back several times.
Thinking about it now… Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, and Snape, although their positions were not exactly the same, their attitudes on this matter should have been consistent.
They were all using the excuse of detention to passively cut off Draco Malfoy's relationship with some people he shouldn't be associating with.
But now it seemed that Draco Malfoy himself didn't seem to think so.
When Wade entered the ward where the wolf cub was resting, he had already made a decision.
He objectively wrote down the process just now on parchment, copied it into two copies, turned them into paper cranes, and then watched the light yellow paper cranes flap their wings and fly out of the window.
One flew to the headmaster's office, and the other went to find Professor Snape.
Draco Malfoy's gathering tonight probably wouldn't go smoothly, and he wondered if the student club would be shut down by the professors.
As Wade leaned against the window, watching the paper cranes fly away, the wolf cub on the bed had already turned over and gotten up, secretly pulling open a crack in the curtain, and its round eyes were secretly looking at him from the crack.
Wade suddenly turned his head, and the wolf cub was startled, and shrank back onto the bed with a gurgle.
"Hello," Wade didn't approach, and asked in a gentle tone, "My name is Wade Grey. How does your wound feel?"
After a moment, the little wolf poked its head out of the curtain again.
“Much better now.” He said in a childish voice, “Thank you for saving me… Where is this place?”
“The Hogwarts Hospital Wing. Come on, I'll take you back to the Forbidden Forest.”
Vede reached out his hand, and the wolf cub hesitated for a moment before crawling out completely. Vede grabbed the scruff of his neck, picked him up, and held him.
He exclaimed in surprise, his limbs tightly hugging Vede's arm, and his tail became stiff.
“What's your name?” Vede asked as he walked outside.
“Morris.” The wolf cub said, “Morris Holden.”
“How old are you?” Vede asked.
“I'm already two years old.” Morris said proudly.
Vede was a little surprised. He had thought this little guy was only about three or four months old.
He vaguely remembered that ordinary wolves are almost mature at two years old, but this wolf cub had the feeling of a child from its appearance to its speech.
Perhaps this is also the influence of human blood—a longer childhood, but correspondingly, the lifespan must be much longer than that of ordinary wild wolves.
“If I send you to the Forbidden Forest, do you know how to get home?” Vede said worriedly, “Don't get caught by some monster again.”
“Of course I can. I was just careless before!” Morris argued loudly.
As he spoke, Vede walked out of the ward, then stopped.
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Carrill stood against the wall in the corridor, looked up, smiled slightly, and said, “Good morning, Vede.”
“…Morning.” Vede closed the door behind him and asked, “No classes this morning? Why are you standing here?”
“I'm waiting for you.” Carrill said, “You were outside the window just now, right? I felt it.”
“Felt it?” Vede raised his eyebrows, “You mean 【heard】 it, right?”
“Haha, that's right.” Carrill chuckled twice, then turned his gaze to Morris, “Is this little guy your pet?”
Morris's body trembled slightly, and he buried his head in Vede's arms.
“No, I picked him up from the forest.” Vede didn't hide anything, “He was injured, so I brought him to Madam Pomfrey for treatment.”
“Oh, you met him in the Forbidden Forest yesterday evening, right?” Carrill said with a smile, “I thought I had a good relationship with Professor Hagrid. I didn't expect even a guy like Malfoy to receive an invitation, but I didn't.”
“Hagrid promised Malfoy a long time ago, before you came to school. Besides, Hagrid always does things as he pleases.” Vede said.
“Like illegally raising a dragon?” Carrill said enviously, “That's great… Doing whatever you want, even if you make a mistake, someone will cover for you.”
Vede glanced at him and asked, “Did something happen during the holiday? You look… not so good.”
“Maybe I was having too much fun during the holiday and haven't recovered… Or maybe I didn't receive the Christmas present I wanted.” Carrill looked at Vede, saying meaningfully.
Vede felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.
He didn't give Carrill a Christmas present, but after returning from the Gray Castle, he found a gift from Carrill in the pile of gifts—a schedule planner and a small bag of cookies.
Very ordinary and normal, so normal that Vede, who had been checking for a long time, felt like an idiot.
Of course, he didn't eat the cookies either. He still put them on the shelf as a decoration. Anyway, the wardrobe space was sufficient, so he wasn't afraid of taking up space.
“Speaking of which…” Carrill suddenly asked, “Did you like the cookies I gave you?”
“…Not bad.” Vede said vaguely.
“Haha, don't force yourself so much. I know it's not as good as what my mother used to make.” Carrill said with a smile, “Vede, do you remember? My mother was a very good cook, and you liked her cookies the most when you were little.”
“Of course.” Vede nodded.
“But my favorite is seafood bisque… She would add cream, a little bay leaf and lemon, and it was so delicious you could swallow your tongue.” He said with a nostalgic expression, “It's a pity that vampires aren't sensitive enough to taste, so the seafood bisque she's made recently hasn't been that good.”
Vede's heart skipped a beat. He turned to look at Carrill, not knowing if he said this intentionally or just chatting casually.
“By the way, you didn't accept my invitation during the Christmas holiday. Next Hogsmeade weekend, come to my house as a guest? My parents bought a house in Hogsmeade, and they all want to meet you.”
Carrill said enthusiastically, “My mother will make a big table of delicious food, and you can bring a few more friends with you.”
Vede frowned, “Your parents?”
“Yes!” Carrill said with an unchanging smile.
Vede was puzzled, “Carrill, for so long, haven't you really noticed…”
The smile on the opposite boy's face disappeared, and his faintly scarlet eyes looked indifferent and hateful. But this cold expression was only for a moment, and then he bent his eyebrows and still showed a mask-like smile.
“Please, Vede, you owe me this.” Carrill said in a low voice, “You didn't accept my invitation last time, so please promise me this time no matter what, otherwise my parents will definitely be angry with me… Please.”
Vede looked into his eyes. After a long time, he nodded slightly.
“Great!” Carrill immediately showed a happy smile, and said triumphantly, “Haha, I knew you were easily soft-hearted! You can't go back on your word after you've promised! I'm going to have breakfast!”
He waved his hand and walked briskly towards the Great Hall. Vede turned in the other direction and walked down the stairs on the side.
Only then did Morris carefully raise his head, roll over in Vede's arms, and look up at the wizard who had saved him.
The boy's gray eyes drooped, with an unspeakable sadness and pity.
“Vede?” Morris called softly, placing his front paws on Vede's arm.
“Hmm?”
“That person just now… he had the smell of blood on him, it felt very dangerous… You'd better not get close to him, and don't accept his invitation.” Morris said seriously.
Vede just said, “I know.”
“Ah?”
“I know he's a vampire. It's just that…”
Vede walked out of the castle, looked at the dark forest in the distance, and swallowed the rest of his words.
After not hearing the words after “It's just that” for a long time, Morris thought for a while, patted Vede's arm with his paw, and said:
“Although I don't know what's going on, my dad once said… He said that bad things won't not happen just because you avoid them, but as long as you keep moving forward, you'll eventually get out of the quagmire.”
Vede smiled and said, “You are very smart, Morris. Your father is also a wise man. But I… I am very clumsy in some ways.”
Looking back at the magnificent castle, Vede sighed and said, “It seems that this time, I'm going to trouble Professor Dumbledore again.”
