Chapter 352: Malfoy's Stubbornness

The rejection of the house-elves hit Hermione harder than she had imagined.

She had no intention of going to the library to study, but just came to the Black Lake and sat there, staring at the lake, thinking about something quietly.

The calm lake surface reflects the gray sky. Occasionally, a few small fish float across the water, leaving thin ripples.

Hermione's figure reflected against the lake looked thin and stubborn.

Ron and Harry sat next to her, not knowing what to say.

Time passed little by little, and the sky gradually darkened. At half past six, Harry looked up in the direction of the castle and stood up.

He whispered to the two of them, "I have to go. Professor Swan is waiting for me to attend class."

Then he looked at Ron, signaling with his eyes that he should think of more solutions.

Ron turned his back to Hermione, patted his chest gently, and mouthed to Harry silently, "Don't worry, buddy, I'm here to take care of it. Just mind your own business."

Harry nodded, gave Ron a thumbs-up, then turned and left, leaving the two of them alone.

As soon as he entered the castle, Harry met Malfoy, who was panting and had obviously run all the way back from the dueling hall.

As soon as he saw Harry, Malfoy immediately adjusted his breathing, straightened his clothes, and put on a calm look.

"Potter, I didn't see you in the canyon this afternoon. Are you scared by the beating I gave you this morning?"

"Don't tell me that you knew you had no hope of winning the Warriors and gave up on your own initiative."

"If you want to become a warrior in the Five Power Tournament, you have to work hard."

Listening to these seemingly sarcastic but actually caring words, Harry grinned and said, "How could I give up? I was just attending club activities this afternoon."

"Besides, who would be scared of you? You've been defeated by me one or two more times than me."

Club activities......

Malfoy curled his lips subconsciously.

"Why are you still participating in club activities at this time? You can't tell the priorities! I wish I could just live in the Duel Hall."

"If Professor Swann hadn't called me, I would definitely practice until the lights went out in the duel hall. By the way, do you know what magic Professor Swann is going to teach us?"

"You didn't know?" Harry looked at him in surprise.

Occlumency is an advanced magic, but Professor Swann did not inform Malfoy in advance to let him prepare for it.

It seems that the professor has a unique teaching skill, and it doesn't matter if you don't prepare in advance.

However, one can always learn faster if one prepares in advance. It seems that Malfoy will be anxious again later.

Harry chuckled and said mysteriously, "You'll know in a moment."

As they were talking, the two came to Sebastian's office door, knocked and walked in.

As soon as he entered the door, before he had time to say anything, Malfoy's stomach growled, causing Harry to look at him sideways.

In an instant, Malfoy's face turned red.

Damn, I made a fool of myself in front of the professor and Potter.

"Haven't you had dinner yet?" Sebastian's voice was extremely gentle, easing Malfoy's embarrassment.

"It's okay, Professor, I'm not hungry yet," Malfoy said stubbornly, "Let's study first."

"There's no rush to study. Let's fill our stomach first. I just ate a few snacks."

Sebastian smiled gently, waved his wand and used Transfiguration to place a dining table in the middle of the office. He then called a house-elf to help prepare simple food for three people.

Harry looked and saw that it was a familiar face. It was the house-elf named Mary.

After checking his stomach, Harry found that he was not very hungry, so he asked the house-elf to prepare a pie and a glass of juice for him.

Thinking of Hermione and Ron by the Black Lake, he asked the house-elf to help pack a few pies in case the two of them were hungry.

However, Mary obviously still remembered what happened in the afternoon, so she was not so enthusiastic towards Harry.

Sebastian noticed the elf's different treatment, and after Mary prepared the food and left, he asked with a smile: "Harry, did you offend Mary when you went to the kitchen this afternoon?"

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I didn't expect that the house-elf would start to hate me too.

He swallowed the food in his mouth and explained what happened in the afternoon.

Hearing Hermione's performance, Sebastian nodded with satisfaction.

In the end, the little girl listened to her own advice and did not instill the idea of ​​freedom into the house-elves as radically as in the original book, and she knew how to consider their feelings.

"Well, Harry, I'm going to give you a few small suggestions, and you can pass them on to Miss Granger when you get back."

"It's not realistic to free house-elves, but she can call on people to treat house-elves as members of the family rather than slaves who are beaten or scolded."

"She can also set up a household magic interest group. After all, in the wizarding world, most families don't have house-elves, and wizards have to do their own housework."

"Miss Granger can start with small things like this, and while teaching her classmates household magic, she can also reduce the burden on the house-elves in the school."

"By the way, did you see Winky this afternoon? He is temporarily working at Hogwarts."

Twinkle?

Harry's eyes lit up.

The house-elf that Crouch had chased away.

Is it at Hogwarts?

What does temporarily mean?

"Well," Sebastian said, "I recruited it into Swann Alchemy, but it hasn't gotten over its sadness yet."

"So, I temporarily placed it in the Hogwarts kitchen, hoping to heal it with the collective strength of the group."

"If Miss Granger is willing, she can go and counsel it and help it untie the knot in its heart. It also happens to be a good opportunity for her to practice dealing with house-elves."

Harry nodded, indicating that he would definitely pass on the message.

Malfoy was wolfing down his food, with no intention of interrupting.

House elves...

That Granger was crazy to want to set them free.

However, the professor's demand for house-elves is quite great, and he wants to kidnap the house-elves from Hogwarts during the school term.

It seems that if you want to please the professor, you can just give him a house-elf.

This news is very valuable. I must tell my dad about it later.

Soon, the food on the table was eaten up by everyone, and Sebastian waved his wand to clear a space.

"After you've eaten and drunk enough, let's learn Occlumency."