Chapter 234 How can helping someone fall in love trigger an achievement?
"So, this Peter Pettigrew a man who supposedly died years ago you found his name when you were checking the Marauder's Map at night?"
Dylan looked at Harry. In truth, even though Professor McGonagall and the others had used a spell to muffle their conversation as they reached the end, forcing Harry to sneak over under his Invisibility Cloak to eavesdrop, Dylan had his own "Spying Eyes." With just a glance, he could peek through any obstruction and see what they were saying. After all, he could read lips.
Harry nodded vigorously. "Yes! That's exactly it! But I didn't get a good look at the time, I just have a feeling I saw the name..."
A corner of Dylan's mouth twitched. The Weasley twins had given him the Marauder's Map, and he'd immediately passed it on to Harry. So why, upon making such a discovery, wasn't Harry doing what he'd always done before diving headfirst into an investigation with his friends? Why had he come to ask him instead?
"But you're not even sure if you saw the name, are you? So why don't you just take another look?" Dylan said casually.
Harry squirmed a little. "Uh, I'm a bit scared... I don't dare to look at it by myself..."
Dylan: ()... "Ah, so that's it." Dylan forced a smile.
Harry's head dropped even lower, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. It was rather embarrassing to admit he was afraid to look at the map.
"Well, you definitely have to confirm it first." Dylan glanced behind them, and seeing no one else in their deserted little corner, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
The fact that Peter Pettigrew's name was showing up on the map made Dylan a little curious. The map had been in the Weasley twins' possession for so long. Had they really never seen Wormtail's name all this time?
Ron hadn't known about the Marauder's Map before, and even now, he hadn't seen it in person, so it made sense that he wouldn't know. But the Weasley twins had put so much effort into figuring out how the map worked. Now that they knew exactly how to use it, how could they have missed Wormtail, who was in the form of Ron's rat, Scabbers?
Peter Pettigrew, as a rat, was practically a Weasley family heirloom. He'd been passed down from one generation to the next. The twins had stolen the map from Filch's office in their first year and often used it to wander the corridors of Hogwarts. Especially at night. How could they not have noticed a tiny dot named "Peter Pettigrew" scurrying around the empty castle? It would have been hard not to notice.
Dylan had also studied the map after he got it. It was a large, unfurling piece of parchment. Even if some names overlapped, a name constantly moving around at night would surely have had moments when it wasn't overlapping, right? Given the twins' curiosity, why wouldn't they have investigated who this person was, running around the castle at the same time as them?
Of course, it was also possible that Peter Pettigrew didn't run around at night and simply stayed put in the Gryffindor common room. With so many people in the common room, all the names would have been clustered together. It was also possible that Hogwarts was so big that the Weasley twins just happened to not cross paths with him while they were running around.
"Well, it's not a very convincing explanation," Dylan shrugged. Harry, on the other hand, had discovered Peter Pettigrew in just one night of having the map.
"Let's just call it fate," Dylan concluded. He looked up at Harry. "If you're scared to look, you can always ask Ron and Hermione to go with you. Of course, if you'd like me there too I'd be happy to go with you. It wouldn't take long at all."
Harry sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks, Dylan."
Dylan waved a hand. "What's there to thank me for?"
It was genuinely surprising to Dylan that Harry, instead of mulling over the problem by himself or with his friends, had chosen to take a shortcut and come directly to him to ask about such a clearly secretive matter. Since when had Harry had this kind of foresight? In the last two years, Dylan hadn't thought Harry was so clever. If Harry had just thrown every problem to someone else the moment he encountered it say, by asking Professor McGonagall, who would then report it to Dumbledore the movies probably wouldn't have been seven parts long. Everything would have been resolved in one go.
"But stories need drama," Dylan thought to himself. "Without a child's stubbornness and curiosity, how could a person's growth from a child to an adult be told? How could a children's story become so famous?" So, Dylan could only say that everything had a cause and everything had a consequence.
"Harry, be careful when you go," Dylan warned. "And also, I've tinkered with this map. Sometimes it doesn't show all the names clearly, but any name that does appear is absolutely accurate. It never makes a mistake."
In fact, the simple fact that it never made a mistake was enough to prove how powerful the Marauder's Map was. "Never wrong" didn't mean the map had some sort of inherent rule-based magic; it meant it was enchanted with so many fail-safe charms that the information it presented was flawless. Dylan couldn't help but marvel once more that a few underage boys could create such an imaginative and powerful magical artifact.
"Of course," he thought, "I'm probably a bit more powerful."
"I understand. Thanks for the warning, Dylan." Harry nodded. "Are you going somewhere? If not, we can head back together."
"I have something to discuss with Professor Flitwick. You go on ahead."
"Okay." Harry didn't ask what Dylan was going to see Flitwick about. He simply lowered his head, lost in thought, and turned to walk toward Gryffindor Tower.
Dylan watched his retreating back and shrugged. He then hurried away from the secluded corridor. Just as he turned a corner and went up the stairs, he ran into Cedric again.
"Oh! Hey, Dylan!" Cedric greeted him with a cheerful wave.
Dylan waved back. "Good evening. How was your date? I'm guessing it went well?"
Cedric was beaming. He nodded. "Thanks to your divination, my date with Cho went great. She said I was handsome three times at the teahouse today!"
"I never thought I'd feel so confident because of my looks! Hehehe, it makes me think she might even find me a little special." Cedric said, rubbing a hand through his hair and failing to suppress a smile. "I used to think people were just being polite when they called me handsome, but now I think I really might be!"
Dylan's smile, which had started to grow as he listened to Cedric, began to flatten as he continued talking. Eventually, Dylan's lips were just a thin line.
"Oh, haha, well, congratulations." Dylan offered a lukewarm congratulations.
"I still have you to thank for it. Your divination was so helpful, and I did exactly what you told me every single movement!"
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Well, of course," he thought. He had designed every single movement with repeated divinations. "It's not just guys who like girls who are a little playful; girls like guys who are the same way, too."
He glanced at Cedric's outfit. He was still wearing his crisp wizarding robes, but underneath was a clean, white button-down shirt, meticulously buttoned up to the top without a single wrinkle. The sleeves were neatly cuffed, revealing a glimpse of his clean wrists. The whole look made him seem both elegantly wizardly and youthfully sharp.
"Never mind Cho Chang," Dylan thought. "How many girls have given him shy, lingering looks since we started walking?"
"I'm glad it went well," Dylan said politely.
Cedric laughed. "I'm already looking forward to my next date with Cho, Dylan. Can you..."
Dylan immediately shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary. If you need me to divine every single one of your dates, the experience will start to feel artificial. Once is fine, but if you do it too often, and you end up living together, all the problems you never saw before will come crashing down on you. Your relationship might run into trouble, or even a huge rift that you can't mend. Do you want to see that happen?"
Cedric froze for a moment, then shook his head repeatedly. "No, I definitely don't want to see that happen."
"Then there you go," Dylan said with a shrug. "You don't have anything to worry about. You're handsome enough, your family is well-off, and you're good at your studies. As long as you're serious about the relationship, any girl who likes you will always like you." Dylan was careful not to say that every girl would like Cedric. It was a more cautious statement. "What if a girl doesn't want to talk to him one day? Who knows if Cedric would come back and ask me why?"
Kids could be confident, but not too confident. Being overconfident was a problem.
"Alright," Cedric nodded, and then asked, "Are you heading back to your dorm now?"
Dylan shook his head. "No, I'm going to find Professor Flitwick."
"Oh?" Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to see the professor for tutoring at this hour?"
"Not really. I don't need to be tutored by Professor Flitwick anymore." Dylan smiled. "And Professor Flitwick doesn't really want to tutor me anymore, either."
Cedric was stunned again, blinking his eyes.
"Then it seems you have other things to do. I won't bother you anymore."
"Yeah, you go do your thing." Dylan sent Cedric on his way. By now, he was almost at Flitwick's office.
At that moment, he glanced at his system panel. The achievement icon was flashing. Dylan raised an eyebrow. Lately, he hadn't been able to trigger achievements by doing ordinary things. So why had he unlocked a new one just now, without doing anything special? Dylan looked at it curiously.
[Achievement]: Divining Heart-Racing Moments[Description]: You successfully foresaw and orchestrated a perfect date. [Requirement]: Push the progress of a fellow student's relationship. [Achievement Reward]: Stargazer Tarot Cards
"Tarot cards?" Dylan hadn't expected that helping a friend with a date could earn him an achievement. He clicked his tongue and looked at the reward.
[Item]: Stargazer Tarot Cards
[Description]: A set of cards with extraordinary divination abilities, a mysterious bridge connecting reality and the unknown.
[Effect 1]: Insight into Fate - Whether it's the direction of love, the ups and downs of a career, or problems encountered in life, as long as you calm your mind, sincerely shuffle, cut, and lay out a spread, the Stargazer Tarot Cards can show the ups and downs of a situation, its developing trends, and possible outcomes based on the card combinations.
[Effect 2]: Exploring the Subconscious - When you gaze at the face of the Stargazer Tarot Cards, the mysterious elements and symbols will stimulate your subconscious, unearthing overlooked thoughts, emotions, and hidden powers within you.
[Effect 3]: Premonition - When facing an important decision or about to step into a dangerous area, the Stargazer Tarot Cards can give you an early warning of potential dangers or reveal hidden opportunities.
"Three effects?" Dylan felt his lips curve into a small smile after looking over the abilities of the tarot cards. The effects were all quite good. Helping others with divination, giving himself a warning, and even offering to explore the subconscious for the one he was divining for. This would give Dylan a huge boost in his future divination endeavors.
Dylan didn't take the cards out right away. He planned to ask Professor Flitwick about the address for Vera first, and then go back to his dorm to look at them.
He walked to the door of Professor Flitwick's office and gently knocked.
"Come in!" a voice from inside called.
Dylan opened the door. He saw the small professor hunched over his desk, head bowed, writing something. His quill scratched against the parchment.
"Who is it " Professor Flitwick asked without looking up, his voice trailing off. He waited for a reply, but got none. He finally looked up and saw Dylan. The little professor's eyes went wide, and he suddenly recoiled.
"Dylan? What are you doing here I mean, is there something you need?"
.....
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