The house-elf looked at him with clear, childlike eyes.
"Is Wade Gray sad?"
"Uh—" Wade paused, then sighed, twirling the magical bean in his hand. "Not really sad, I guess? I just suddenly realized my thoughts were a bit too—"
Dark.
He swallowed the word and said, "—Paranoid, I suppose? I was speculating with very ill intentions about a professor who was full of goodwill towards me..."
"Wade Gray is not wrong!" Zoe suddenly exclaimed loudly.
"—Zoe?"
"Professor Morrie is a good person, but Wade Gray is right to be vigilant," Zoe nodded vigorously. "Zoe knows of a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who tried to have an improper relationship with a third-year girl and went to Azkaban.Zoe also knows of a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who used Dark Magic on students and also went to Azkaban. And another Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who used students' trust to invite them to a party, then contacted dark wizards to kidnap students for ransom."
Wade let out a short laugh. "He went to Azkaban too?"
Zoe shook her head. "A wrong spell made his wand explode, and he died."
"All Defense Against the Dark Arts professors... that position is truly cursed," Wade muttered.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts professors change quickly, many bad people. Quirrell is also bad. Wade Gray must always stay vigilant," Zoe said earnestly.
Wade sighed. "I will."
Waking up in the morning, Wade first waved his wand to check the time.
Golden text appeared: [07:00am].
It was Friday, and they had no classes in the morning, so most students wouldn't be up early. As Wade walked through the common room, only two fifth-year students were sitting by the fireplace, reading.
—Poor seniors.
Wade felt a pang of sympathy.
He conjured a ball of blue flame with his wand and put it in a bottle. Carrying it would keep him from getting too cold, even outdoors.
Wade would be leaving school by train tomorrow, so he decided to go to the library after breakfast to borrow as many books as possible, so he wouldn't waste time at home.
After spending the morning in the library, Wade returned to the Great Hall and found Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick there, busy setting up Christmas decorations. He immediately went over to help.
"Ah, Wade, thank you," Professor Flitwick said happily. "We need to hang all those ribbons on the walls."
The few of them busied themselves with their wands. Bright, festive ribbons were hung on the walls, and twelve towering Christmas trees were placed on either side.
Hundreds of candles, arranged in lines under Professor Flitwick's direction, coiled around the Christmas trees, burning quietly. Golden bubbles also sprayed from the tip of his wand, hanging from the branches.
Professor McGonagall, meanwhile, gently tapped the ice crystals hanging from the branches with her wand, transforming some of them into sparkling small animals or tiny bells.
The effortless Transfiguration spell earned gasps of admiration from the students in the Great Hall.
More students came to help, fully exercising their creativity. Some conjured golden stars, others proud, strutting deer, and still others made several sleighs run across the Great Hall ceiling, demonstrating impressive magical skill, earning many points for their Houses from the two professors.
Of course, there were also failed Transfigurations. A Slytherin boy originally just wanted to create a few candles, but the spell went wrong, and the tip of his wand suddenly exploded, blackening his entire face and making everyone laugh.
Soon, the Great Hall was completely transformed. Michael, who had come downstairs to eat, said hesitantly, "You know, Wade, I really miss my family. But—"
He poked a branch with his finger, and the ice hamster hanging there immediately let out a squeak.
"Hogwarts Christmas seems quite fun too..."
He looked very much like he wanted to stay.
"Wade, Michael, you're both here just in time." West, the sixth-year male prefect, strode over, pulling out two pieces of paper and handing them to them. "Here, sign these."
Michael took it. "Notification of Prohibition of Underage Magic? Why do we have to sign this? I'm a wizard!"
"Yes—an underage wizard," West nodded dismissively, urging them, "Hurry up, I still need to find Anthony and the others."
Wade looked down at the notice:
[According to the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery Act, underage wizards must adhere to the following prohibitions during holidays:First, wizards under the age of seventeen are considered underage and are prohibited from using magic outside of school.
Second, underage wizards must consciously abide by and uphold the International Statute of Secrecy. Any magical activity by an underage wizard that could potentially draw the attention of non-magical people (Muggles) is considered a serious violation.
Third, knowingly using magic in front of Muggles is a criminal offense, and will result in a warning from the Ministry of Magic. Severe cases will lead to expulsion...]
There were seven or eight more prohibitions listed, all essentially saying one thing: no using magic, and no revealing any information about the magical world to Muggles.
Wade had read in books on magic history that Muggles began massively hunting wizards from the 15th century.
Although individual wizards were often more powerful, their social structure was completely decentralized.
Wizards' daily lives, apart from travel, depended on the Muggle world, which often led to their identities being exposed.
For over two centuries, many wizards were persecuted and killed by Muggles.
Children of wizards, especially, were prone to attracting attention due to their inability to control their magic, leading to capture, imprisonment, or even being burned.
To protect the wizarding community, the Statute of Secrecy was established in 1692 and continues to be strictly observed as an ironclad rule of the wizarding world.
Of course, wizarding books only documented wizards being persecuted by Muggles, but did not record the reason for the sudden deterioration of relations between the two sides, nor did they record the wizards' counterattacks and retaliations against Muggles.
Now, perhaps to ease the hatred between Muggles and wizards and avoid escalating conflict, their textbook, A History of Magic, is vague about this period, focusing instead on the deeds of Wendelin the Weird—a very eccentric and powerful witch who enjoyed the feeling of being tied to the stake and burned, deliberately changing her appearance to be caught forty-seven times.
A History of Magic used this peculiar example to prove that burning witches was complete nonsense. But in reality, many witches were indeed tied to stakes and burned to death.
Of course, even more ordinary women were mistakenly burned as witches; indeed, the vast majority were.
Wade looked at the notice—complex magical circuits shimmered on the seemingly ordinary parchment.
Under West's urging, he didn't have much time to study it and simply picked up the quill to sign his name.
As he signed, Wade felt something invisible, like a contract, entwine itself around him.
"Don't think you can secretly use magic at home," West warned finally. "Underage wizards all have a Trace on them; as soon as you use magic, the Ministry of Magic will immediately find out.Every year, two or three foolish ones receive warning letters from the Ministry of Magic. I hope you won't be among them."