"Yes, she escaped… Perhaps I shouldn't say this from my position, but I think… it's a good thing she got away."
Professor Sprout let out a deep sigh and said.
"What happened?" Wade asked.
"The Ministry of Magic wanted to execute that girl, and even the children who were rescued with her—they weren't willing to let them go so easily either."
Thinking about the heated arguments she had overheard on the ship a few days ago, Professor Sprout couldn't help but feel furious. She said:
"They planned to imprison those children. I heard someone say that they shouldn't be released until they reach adulthood and are confirmed to be no longer dangerous."
"But in that case, how are they supposed to survive when they are finally released into society? —No one cares! No one even thinks about that!"
She finished angrily with her nostrils flaring. After taking a deep breath, she continued:
"But after that girl escaped, the Ministry suddenly realized—anger and hatred can breed even stronger dark creatures. They became afraid of retaliation from the Obscurial and suddenly changed their stance, and said they could consider treating those children more leniently."
Her tone was sarcastic, and her expression almost resembled Professor Snape's.
Wade asked, "But there's still a debate on how to handle them?"
"Yes." Professor Sprout said, "Dumbledore wants to send the magical children to Hogwarts, but… sigh… the majority of the school board opposes it."
"I can understand their concerns… And some of those children are indeed older. Even if they enroll in school, they will graduate soon but likely won't pass their N.E.W.T."
"In the end, both sides compromised—children over the age of eleven wouldn't be exceptionally admitted into Hogwarts. However, the Ministry of Magic approved special funding for them to take introductory magic correspondence courses.
This way, after completing the program, they would at least learn some basic magic to help them survive."
"Correspondence courses?" Wade asked in confusion. "I thought Hogwarts was the only wizarding school in all of Britain!"
Professor Sprout smiled tolerantly and said:
"Hogwarts is indeed the only official wizarding school in Britain, but some wizards run small magic correspondence classes in their backyards, taking in a few struggling students and teaching them simple household magic—it's mostly just a scam."
"But with the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore involved, they should be able to find a reliable teacher for those children."
"Once everything is settled, perhaps next week, Dumbledore will return to the school."
Wade had originally planned to ask about the fate of the non-magical children, but seeing that students for the next class were already entering the greenhouse, he simply thanked Professor Sprout and took his leave.
Outside, he met up with Michael.
"There's still over an hour before History of Magic!" Michael said. "How about we go to the Maze and have a match?"
"Sure."
Wade had been feeling a bit down lately, so he figured he could use some time to unwind.
The two of them took a turn and headed toward the Maze.
Meanwhile, Ron and Harry had just walked out of the castle and saw them turning in that direction from a distance.
Harry immediately said sympathetically, "Whoever's in the maze today is in for some bad luck."
"Yeah… probably…" Ron mumbled absentmindedly and glanced in their direction.
…
But Wade wasn't exactly doing what Harry had imagined—bullying younger students in the Maze with oversized insects.
Most of the students who had free time to play in the Maze during school hours were lower-year students with fewer classes. The moment they spotted Wade, they scattered in all directions, afraid that if they ran too slow, he'd catch them.
"Hahaha… Wade, you've been treated like the plague… hahaha…"
Michael burst into laughter, doubling over as he mocked him loudly. Wade scratched his nose sheepishly.
"I wasn't even planning on using bugs to mess with them today…" Wade said helplessly.
"Alright, the next group can come in!"
Hagrid happened to be on Maze duty today. He opened the entrance and called out, but to his surprise, there were no eager young wizards rushing in as usual.
Puzzled, Hagrid rested his large hand on the hedge wall and looked outside, only to see Wade and Michael standing there alone.
"Where is everyone?" Hagrid asked in confusion. "Why's it just you two?"
"Ahem!" Michael cleared his throat, stifling his laughter before putting on a serious face. "They all went to class."
"Oh… well…" Hagrid mumbled in disappointment. "Guess no one else is coming. You two still want to go in?"
"Uh…" Michael hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well, since we're already here…"
Wade took the first step forward, and Michael quickly followed. "Let's get this straight, Wade—just solving the challenges, no competition, okay?"
"What's the fun in that?" Wade said. "Since there's no one else here, I'll show you something new."
"What is it?"
Michael asked curiously, but Wade just gave him a mysterious smile and didn't answer.
Behind them, vines stretched out and wove together, and then seamlessly closed the entrance as if it had never been open.
Outside the hedge walls, Hagrid sat down on a stone, set aside his pink umbrella, and picked up a ball of yarn and a bundle of animal fur.
"What are you doing, Hagrid?" Michael asked.
"Oh, I'm braiding a belt from the mane of a Chimaera. My old one's about to snap."
As Hagrid used his thick fingers to weave the yarn and fur together, he asked, "You lads want one too? I could make you one."
Michael glanced at the belt, which was thicker than his own arm, and quickly waved his hands. "No, no, I'd never be able to use that."
Wade greeted Hagrid and then said, "Professor Hagrid, we're heading to V Zone."
"V Zone? Oh, alright."
Hagrid tapped the hedge wall with his pink umbrella, and an arched entrance appeared.
"Go on, be careful," Hagrid said.
"Got it, thanks."
Wade waved his hand and stepped inside.
"V Zone?" Michael walked beside him and asked, "What is this place? I've never heard of it before."
"That's normal," Wade replied while leading the way. "It's a newly established area."
Michael glanced back at the now-sealed entrance, then at the towering walls on both sides. The silence around them felt eerily unusual.
It was never like this before—
Inside the Maze, every step usually brought the risk of traps and challenges.
Not only were there obstacles set up by the professors, but past students who had ventured through also left behind devious tricks for future challengers.
So even if someone took the same path repeatedly, they could still encounter new "surprises" each time. That unpredictability was what made the Hogwarts Maze so fascinating.
As Michael recalled his past experiences of navigating the maze with caution, he couldn't help but compare them to the unsettling stillness now. An odd sense of unease crept over him.
He felt the urge to break the silence.
"These walls are ridiculously tall—taller than Professor Hagrid even," Michael remarked, tilting his head back to stare at the massive green hedges. "Why build them so high? Is there some kind of hidden structure inside?"
"Not a hidden structure," Wade said, stopping in his tracks. "But some creatures."
Michael froze, then turned his head to see a dark green troll lumbering into view at the far end of the passage, dragging a long wooden club behind it.
He spun around instinctively—only to find a werewolf had appeared behind them, silently. It stared at them and let out a low, menacing growl.
Above them, a soft, eerie chuckle sounded. Michael looked up and saw two figures crouched on the hedge walls, one on each side.
They looked human… but their glowing red eyes and sharp, exposed fangs suggested otherwise.
Michael: "..."
…
Thirty minutes later, Wade glanced at Michael, who was now casually sitting on a chair-like formation of tree roots, leisurely cracking open pine nuts to eat.
Even Wade had to admit—he was impressed.
Just moments ago, this guy had been so terrified by the sudden appearance of the monsters that his face turned pale. But then, upon spotting the vampire girl on the wall, he unexpectedly blurted out:
"Wearing so little, aren't you cold? And with that skirt, standing on the wall like that… you might flash someone!"
The vampire girl burst out laughing, and just like that, the tense atmosphere created by the other monsters vanished.
They all exchanged glances, then turned to Wade. The werewolf asked in a simple-minded manner, "If he's not running, should we still chase him?"
"Be flexible, everyone," Wade said helplessly. "If a student gets so scared they collapse on the ground, would you just let them go? Fake an attack, encircle and ambush—haven't I taught you this already?"
"Ohhh—"
The werewolf suddenly understood, and with a rustle, it actually pulled out a small notebook from somewhere in its belly and carefully jotted that down.
Seeing that no fight was about to break out, the troll tilted its head, then dragged its wooden club and stomped off into the distance.
A handsome, chestnut-haired vampire gave a bow and said, "Call upon us whenever you need."
With that, he leaped over the wall, and the other vampires disappeared along with him.
Michael stared wistfully in the direction where the vampire girl had vanished, then let out a heavy sigh.
"She is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen… What a shame she's not human… not even really a vampire."
"If she were actually a vampire, would you have pursued her?" Wade asked.
Michael replied indignantly, "Love transcends race!" Then, after a pause, he added dejectedly, "But I can't accept that she is just a doll."
Wade quipped, "This is exactly why Padma broke up with you."
At the mention of Padma, Michael started sighing all over again.
The last time Wade had seen the two of them sitting together, chatting and laughing, he had assumed they'd reconciled. Who would've thought they had actually broken up for good?
Padma couldn't stand how Michael was kind and charming to every girl he met, always joking around with pretty girls. They had argued about it multiple times.
Michael understood why she was upset, but he just couldn't change the way he was.
Strangely enough, after stepping back from being lovers to just friends, their relationship actually became smoother—
After all, Michael had always treated Padma well.
The problem was, he treated other girls just as well, which frustrated and unsettled Padma when she was his girlfriend. But as a friend, she could choose to ignore it.
Their relationship was a complicated territory Wade didn't usually get involved in. He had only made a passing remark about it before shifting the topic back to Michael's behavior earlier—
"Seriously, weren't you scared just now?" Wade asked curiously. "Or was there a flaw in my magic dolls that made you see through them right away?"
"Not really," Michael said. "A real troll probably wouldn't even feel that scary, because… you know, trolls are dumb. But your dolls aren't."
"Then you weren't scared because…?"
"Because I didn't forget that you are the one who brought me here."
Michael spoke casually. "You wouldn't lead me to my death, right? And there's no way the professors would fail to notice if so many monsters had actually sneaked into Hogwarts."
"Once I figured that out, and remembered the Red Caps and other creatures we encountered in Defense Against the Dark Arts, the conclusion was obvious—these must be another batch of magic dolls."
Wade was speechless.
It sounded easy enough to say, but how many people could stay calm and think rationally when faced with a life-or-death situation?
As they talked, the two of them finally made it through the long passageway and arrived at the true V Zone.
It looked as if they had stepped into the depths of the Forbidden Forest—massive trees with tangled roots formed a dense canopy overhead, allowing little sunlight to reach the damp, chilly ground.
Scattered around were dead trees with gnarled branches, twisted like skeletal fingers, as if ready to snatch up unsuspecting victims.
Despite the eerie atmosphere, Michael seemed completely at ease. After wandering around for a bit, he even picked up some pinecones and easily used magic to crack them open and eat the pine nuts inside.
He even had time to critique the place while munching.
"The ambiance is great, but the space is a bit small. If it could extend further into the Forbidden Forest, that would be even better."
"That's not possible," Wade said, sitting on a fallen tree trunk. "Just building the Maze already led to complaints from some Forbidden Forest creatures to Dumbledore. If we push any further in, they'll be furious."
"And beyond a certain range, the school's magic wouldn't be able to protect all the students."
"That's a shame," Michael sighed. "With such a small area, everyone's going to figure out the Doll creatures pretty quickly."
Not far from them, a few trolls were huddled together and pretended to warm themselves by a fire, it looked incredibly cramped and uncomfortable.
Werewolves occasionally darted through the area, with their lanky forms flashing in and out of sight.
Only the vampires remained well-hidden, still unseen.
"The V Zone is only temporary," Wade explained.
"Professor Dumbledore has invited Mr. Scamander to help. During the holiday, they'll use magic to move the entire V Zone underground and merge it with the Maze. By then, it'll feel just like the Forbidden Forest."
Michael's jaw dropped. "You can do that? Move an entire space?"
Wade paused, equally surprised. "That's what shocks you? Isn't time magic even more incredible?"
The two stared at each other for a moment before silently deciding to give up on changing each other's views.
Wade then asked, "Want to try fighting a werewolf?"
"Sure!" Michael sprang up from his tree-root seat and brandished his wand excitedly.
Wade clapped his hands, and a werewolf slowly emerged from the trees and stepped forward.
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
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