HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Chapter 112 The Black Dog Who Loves Gossip

"Merry Christmas!" Headmaster Dumbledore's cheerful and loud holiday greeting interrupted the young wizards' conversation. Ron and Harry winked at Lyra, their faces hinting that they would talk more in the common room later.

Lyra nodded in agreement and quickly became engrossed in the joy of setting off firecrackers. She and Harry both received a lot of liqueur-filled chocolates.

Hermione received a white mouse, which she tossed aside absentmindedly, completely ignoring Harry's whispered suggestion: "You can give it to your cat, that way it won't keep chasing Scabbers..."

Ron's firecracker contained a cabbage doll. He wasn't interested, but he happily put it in his pocket, intending to save it as a gift for his baby mouse.

But no gift was as big as the one that popped out of Professor Snape's firecracker—his firecracker burst open with a bang, revealing a top-pointed witch's hat with a specimen of a mountain eagle on top.

Harry and Ron both remembered the Boggart, but they tried their best to suppress the smiles from Professor Snape's dark expression. Fortunately, Professor Dumbledore seemed to like it very much and took it and put it on his head.

If Lyra were to comment, this exaggeratedly large hat perfectly matches Headmaster Dumbledore's magnificent robes.

After everyone was stuffed to the point of bursting from the sumptuous Christmas dinner, they finished lunch. Lyra, preoccupied with the mysterious Christmas present Harry had received, walked out with Harry and Ron, but Hermione did not follow.

“Shall we come?” Harry asked Hermione.

But Hermione muttered that she wanted to say a few words to Professor McGonagall.

“I guess she probably wanted to ask Professor McGonagall if she could take more classes,” Ron said with a yawn. Soon, this action was contagious to Lyra and Harry, and the three of them yawned and headed toward the Gryffindor common room.

“Merlin’s stockings! They’re fire bolts!” Lyra exclaimed.

As soon as Harry arrived at the common room, he couldn't wait to take out the mysterious gift he had received from his bedroom—a glittering flying broom.

This is the latest high-end broom that Harry and the twins had been eyeing with longing in Diagon Alley, and it is the flying broom that every wizard in the entire wizarding world who loves Quidditch desires most!

Lyra admired the well-deserved Firebolt, but not as dramatically as Harry and Ron: both of them wore dreamy expressions, admiring the broom with rapt attention from every angle.

Just as the two were trying to do something with the flying broomstick's care tools to the shiny firebolt, Hermione walked in through the hole in the portrait, followed by Professor McGonagall.

What happened next was a bit unpleasant. Professor McGonagall confiscated the fire crossbow, because Hermione "told her," that's how Ron described Hermione's act of reporting the professor.

Harry and Ron were furious, even though they knew Hermione meant well—it was really strange that she had given a flying broomstick that cost a fortune without any card indicating who the giver was. It might have been given by the fugitive Black!

If Black had cast a curse on the broom beforehand, Harry could have fallen from the sky and been smashed to pieces while riding the broom.

*

Harry and Ron are having a disagreement with Hermione.

The news spread quickly after the students returned to school, reaching the entire Hogwarts and even the big dog hiding in the Forbidden Forest.

Okay, the big black dog knew that Lyra had told it this.

While delivering sausages and steaks, Lyra couldn't help but share the news with her big, furry friend. Ever since Lyra discovered that the big dog seemed very interested in what was happening at the castle, she had started enjoying chatting with Knight, who always listened with great interest.

"The boys were all going crazy for the Firebolt. Harry receiving it as a Christmas present was a unique privilege among the boys, and everyone else wore their envy on their faces... But that broom was truly amazing, it seemed to have its own built-in flashing effect..."

The big dog wagged its tail, its smile looking somewhat smug, but Lyra was busy brushing Knight's fur and didn't see it.

"Receiving a Firebolt is certainly a show-off thing, but Harry doesn't really need to. He's already special enough. And now some people are starting to say sour things, like, 'No wonder he's the savior, even his brooms have to be the best in the wizarding world...' Okay, those kinds of comments came from Slytherin. But if you ask me, Hermione's caution is justified—"

When the big dog heard the word Slytherin, it seemed to bristle and let out a threatening growl.

"Nate?" Lyra was a little confused. "What, do you hate Slytherin? Have you ever been pranked by Slytherin students?"

"Wang Wang Wang!"

"Alright, alright, let's stop talking about Slytherin and get back to what happened in Gryffindor. You know, my roommate Arya seems to be in a relationship, with that Hufflepuff guy she went to Hogsmeade with last time..."

"Wang Wang Wang!"

"Ah, you want to hear the next topic? Alright, alright, actually I heard that Professor Snape and Professor Lupin had a little unpleasantness in the faculty lounge recently..."

Lyra felt that the picnic with the big dog in the Forbidden Forest would be very fulfilling; at least she and Knight talked until their throats were dry, but they were very satisfied with the conversation.

If the Sorting Hat weren't locked in the Headmaster's office and couldn't be stolen, Lyra would have loved to have the Sorting Hat sort Knight into a different house to see if the big black dog would actually be sorted into Hufflepuff. After all, Lyra had never seen such a gossipy furry creature!

Lyra returned to the castle tired but happy. As she passed through the corridor on the third floor, she stumbled upon a common lion-snake fight—well, to be precise, a fight between Draco Malfoy, the young Slytherin prince, and Harry Potter, the savior of Gryffindor. These two famous rivals had somehow ended up alone and were now fighting with practiced ease.

"..." Leila's first reaction was to pretend she didn't see her and walk away silently, but unfortunately, the two boys immediately noticed the black-haired girl passing by.

"Stand on my side!" Neither Harry nor Draco said a word, but their expressions conveyed a remarkably similar sentiment.

"..."

Is she pretending not to understand, or is she pretending not to understand, or is she really, really, really not understanding?