Chapter 115
After focusing on his essay for a while, Ethan finished his Charms homework. When he looked up to rest his eyes, he spotted someone unexpected.
Nancy Riddle? Ethan had been keeping a close eye on this girl who might be connected to Voldemort. After all, her behavior at the feast yesterday made it clear that even Dumbledore was watching her constantly.
However, she hadn't shown any signs of anything unusual yet. He only glanced at her for a moment before returning to his homework.
*I definitely activated my ability, so why didn't I see the glowing soul fragments that should have been on the Horcrux? Could something have happened so the diary wasn't in Ginny's hands anymore, or was it still with her but simply not present at that moment?*
After leaving the library, Ethan pondered on his way back to the dungeons why he hadn't seen the diary imbued with Voldemort's soul on the Hogwarts Express.
Lost in thought, he walked, too preoccupied to notice a student in black robes standing motionless in the shadows between two torches up ahead.
He walked straight ahead and collided with her.
Ethan stumbled, nearly falling, while the student he bumped into let out an "ouch" and fell to the ground.
From the sound of her voice, it was a girl.
"Are you all right? Sorry about that." Ethan rushed over to help the girl he had knocked down.
"I'm fine. Watch where you're going next time!" The girl he had bumped into angrily pulled away from his arm and got up on her own.
After she stood up and turned to face him, Ethan realized it was none other than Nancy Riddle, the same girl he'd spotted in the library.
Ethan smiled apologetically and introduced himself. "Sorry, sorry, I'll definitely watch where I'm going."
"You must be a Slytherin too, right? I'm Ethan Jones, second year."
Nancy ignored the hand he extended, still angry. "Nancy Riddle."
She spat out the name coldly, turned, and left, clearly having no intention of interacting with him further.
Ethan, of course, wasn't about to force his attention on someone who clearly didn't want it. Although he was very interested in Nancy's origins, he wouldn't press the matter.
He stood where he was, watching Nancy walk away, then stepped into the spot where she'd been standing, looking for any secret he might have missed.
He studied the wall carefully but found nothing special about this spot compared to anywhere else.
*I don't remember there being any secret passages underground either. Why did she stop here? Could it be the Basilisk? That's impossible too. I'm a Parselmouth. If Harry can hear it, why can't I?*
After coming up empty-handed, he returned to the dungeons.
Passing through the common room, he watched the Slytherins playing Wizard's Chess and Gobstones, feeling somewhat bored.
At home, he and Albert had often played Wizard's Chess in their bedrooms at night, hiding it from the household servants.
Albert and Sofia loved the moving chess pieces and had wanted to try more wizarding games.
But unfortunately, in the sparsely populated wizarding world, entertainment lagged far behind the Muggle world. Aside from a few classic games, new trends were rare.
He sat down in an empty chair, watching them play, and drifted into thought.
Draco looked surprised to see him. "Why did you suddenly decide to hang out in the common room today?"
"Just got back from the library and wanted to see what you were playing. Did you finish your homework?" Draco and Goyle had also been there that evening, leaving earlier than he had.
"No, I only got through Transfiguration. Charms can wait until tomorrow; there's still time."
That was typical student logic. Transfiguration was tomorrow, so that took priority. Everything else could wait.
Draco asked, "Want to play a game of Wizard's Chess?"
"Sure." After a moment's thought, Ethan agreed.
The two set up the chessboard and began commanding their pieces.
"No, that move is wrong! I'll be captured!"
"Idiot, you're blocking my way!"
The pieces on the board protested and shouted constantly, trying to get both sides to change their minds and issue new commands.
As pieces were knocked over and dragged off the board one by one, the game reached its final, decisive phase.
"I didn't expect you to play this well." Draco, who had won by a narrow margin, wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I used to play." Watching his king get toppled and the remaining pieces on the opposite side cheer loudly to celebrate victory, Ethan gave Draco a thumbs-up.
"Want to play another round?" Draco felt he had made some mistakes in that game. If they played again, he should be able to do better.
"No, you play with Goyle and the others. I'm heading back." Ethan shook his head.
Then he thought of the twins.
Their joke shop, although it would bring in considerable income in the future, currently had no market-ready products.
The two hundred Galleons he had given them previously were almost gone. When he had run into them that afternoon, they had been nudging each other in embarrassment, each trying to get the other to speak up and ask him for more money.
Although Ethan wasn't short on cash, considering the twins' pride, he felt it would be better to let them earn some money quickly and become independent as soon as possible.
Otherwise, asking for money repeatedly like this would damage their morale, and the relationship between them would slowly shift from friendship to a purely transactional one.
*I think we can try it. The Hearthstone model is quite good.* Remembering the game he had played before, he felt that with some localization, it could work perfectly.
*There are plenty of famous figures in the wizarding world. Pick some to put on cards, add some magical creatures too, and combine them however you like. I think it would start a craze, right?*
He wrote down the idea, planning to discuss its feasibility with the twins the next time he saw them.
As a veteran Hearthstone player, he hadn't played much before the servers shut down, but he still understood the game's core mechanics. By combining it with physical card games he'd played before, like Yu-Gi-Oh, he could create a wizarding world version.
*Moreover, with magic's help, although it might not compare to a virtual format, it will definitely be more impressive than a physical version.*
He spent the evening jotting down rules and key features on paper, with particular attention to monetization.
*Not bad. The essence is all here.* After an hour, once the ink had dried, he cut the parchment and rolled it into a scroll.
Before going to bed, another idea popped into Ethan's mind. *Perhaps having them develop something like walkie-talkies would be even more popular?*
Good dreams all night.
The next morning, he brought the parchment and found the twins at the Gryffindor table.
Without immediately pulling out the parchment, Ethan asked, "Are you busy today? I have something I want to discuss with you."
"Not too bad, only one class this morning," Ethan said. Fred didn't know exactly what Ethan wanted to discuss with them.
Fred and George looked at each other, feeling uneasy. "Could it be about yesterday's Galleons? Is it hopeless? It shouldn't be; he took out so many Galleons before."
"Is it about yesterday's Galleons? We can ask for less, just one hundred, just one hundred will do. We'll figure out the rest ourselves," George said quickly, having thought the same thing.
"No, since I already promised to give it to you, I won't go back on my word."
"I have a new business idea and want you two to get involved and help me design it."
Hearing that the funding wasn't an issue, the two looked at each other again, their expressions relaxing.
The truth was, they hadn't wanted to ask Ethan for money either, but they hadn't expected the development costs to be so high.
Before getting investment, they had just been tinkering on a small scale, relying on their own pocket money and selling some rough prototypes to recoup costs. As a result, after getting two hundred Galleons and trying to do too much, the results were worse than before.
As they had arranged before...
Fred patted his chest. "No problem! What's the idea? Leave it to us."
"There are too many people here with big mouths. Let's meet at that place at seven tonight. You guys go in first. When I arrive, just open the door for me."
"Okay." The twins looked at the crowded tables around them, knowing exactly which place Ethan meant, and readily agreed.
"See you tonight."
In the afternoon, it was Slytherin's first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the term.
Ethan carried seven textbooks to class and sat in the last row, stacking them into a pile with the spines facing outward to completely block his face.
Lockhart came down the stairs from above, wearing forget-me-not blue robes that matched his eyes.
Seeing everyone seated, as if yesterday's embarrassment had never happened, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly.
"Although I already introduced myself at the opening ceremony, to make sure everyone heard clearly and got to know me better, I've decided to give you another brief introduction."
He picked up a copy of *Weekends with Werewolves* from Daphne Greengrass, the girl nearest to him, and held it against his chest with the cover facing everyone.
Pointing to the photo of himself winking on the cover, he made the same gesture while introducing himself.
"I, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League, winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times."
"Of course, these are past glories. I don't often mention them, because I didn't banish the Banshee of Wailing Widow with my smile."
He paused, waiting for a reaction. Unfortunately, the boys, who had long since heard of his glorious deeds, made no sound at all.
Only the girls in the front row, Daphne, Pansy, Millicent, and the others, covered their mouths, their faces red with excitement.
Lockhart was very satisfied with the girls' reaction, winking at them and triggering a burst of screams.
"You've all bought my complete collected works and should have finished reading them, right?"
"Today we'll start with a small test to see how much you've understood of the content in my books. Of course, don't be afraid; it's just a very simple little quiz."
He walked to each student and handed out the scrolls.
Lockhart's eyes lit up as he approached Ethan. "This is Mr. Jones, right? I heard from the other years that there's a very handsome boy in second-year Slytherin. He truly lives up to his reputation, almost catching up to me."
Suppressing his nausea and unwilling to offend a professor on the first day, Ethan put on a fake smile and flattered him. "Not at all. You've won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times."
"I like that you tell the truth. Ten points to Slytherin!" The other little snakes' eyes lit up immediately. They saw an opportunity to rack up points for their house.
After handing out all the scrolls, Lockhart returned to the podium. "Thirty minutes. I think you should be able to complete it. Time starts now!"
Ethan looked at the questions on the scroll, his brows furrowed.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
...
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday? What is his ideal birthday gift?
Three full sides, all questions about Lockhart.
Ethan's eye twitched. He looked up. Beside him, Draco and the others all had troubled expressions, while the girls in the front row were writing furiously.
Ethan had no choice but to rely on his memory, writing down the answers he could recall and making up whatever sounded good for the rest.
When the thirty minutes were up, Lockhart collected all the scrolls and flipped through them one by one.
"I'm heartbroken. No one could answer everything correctly, and several students didn't even get many questions right." Lockhart feigned sadness, announcing the answers one by one.
"My favorite color is lilac. I mentioned it in 'Travels with Ghouls.'
"My secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and to market my own line of hair care products."
With that, he touched his flowing hair. "They work very well.
"I can't tell you the exact formula, but I can proudly say I added a magical creature's egg to it. They're very precious, but they make hair very smooth.
"Lockhart-brand shampoo is available at major shops. You're welcome to buy some."
He winked at the girls in the front row, then winked separately at Ethan.
Ethan quickly lowered his head, burying his face in his pile of books, afraid his disgusted expression would be seen.
"The last question: my ideal birthday gift is for all magical and non-magical people to live together in harmony. I explicitly stated this in Chapter Twelve of 'Weekends with Werewolves.'"
After announcing all the answers, Lockhart said, "Although it's regrettable that no one got full marks, several students answered quite well."
He called out several girls' names, and unexpectedly, Theodore Nott was among them, making all the boys look at him with new respect.
The robust-looking boy's face reddened as he pretended to accept Lockhart's praise calmly.
"These few all scored above ninety-five, so five points to Slytherin!"
------------------------------------------
Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 267
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 186
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 269
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 113
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 120+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic