Although Quidditch is the most popular sport at Hogwarts, not all young wizards choose to watch the matches.
There are still some people in each house's common room, with the fewest in Gryffindor, probably five or six, and the most in Ravenclaw, with over a dozen people.
These are mostly fifth or seventh-year students, as the pressure of exams leaves them with no interest in Quidditch.
In this time, they obviously prefer to stay in the library, or in the cozy common room to read.
Kael set his sights on the Hufflepuff common room.
The Marauder's Map does not depict the dormitory area as meticulously as other places, only distinguishing between male and female areas.
All seven grades are together, separated from the adjacent common room by just a thin ink line.
Kael noted down the names of everyone in the Hufflepuff common room.
Not many, only six.
After noting them down, Kael intended to close the map and continue watching the game, but under the influence of a mysterious force, he inexplicably looked toward the position of the underground classroom, and then found Snape's private storeroom nearby.
Kael swore he absolutely had no intention of going there to steal (crossed out)... take anything, at least not now.
It cannot be denied, Snape's private storeroom indeed has many treasures, but Kael is currently more interested in charms; those Potion Materials don't hold much appeal to him.
But since he had already looked, Kael conveniently noted down the route to get there, as well as the entrances and exits of the secret paths around.
Pure curiosity, nothing else.
Besides, there's nothing else to do now, idle is idle.
"Look quickly, Cedric is speeding up!"
Just then, a deafening cheer erupted around.
Kael hurriedly closed the Marauder's Map and tapped it again with his wand.
"Mischief managed."
The ink line faded, and the Marauder's Map turned back into the appearance of ordinary parchment.
On the Quidditch Pitch, Cedric was plummeting from midair at tremendous speed.
"It's the Golden Snitch!"
The commentator shouted excitedly: "It's right next to the Slytherin goal post, less than twenty feet off the ground!"
"Higgs sees it too, he's accelerating!"
The two Seekers rushed towards the Golden Snitch, the atmosphere in the stands was extremely tense, everyone was watching them nervously.
A few seconds later...
"It's Cedric!"
The commentator roared: "Cedric Digory, the youngest Seeker, caught the Golden Snitch!"
The stands erupted, large yellow flags and fan items were thrown into the air.
"We won, we won!" The little badgers around shouted in excitement, hugging each other.
"Thanks to Hufflepuff, for bringing us such an exciting Quidditch match."
...
An hour later, Cedric was carried back to the common room by a group of excited Hufflepuff students, and in the words of the Quidditch players, it was a hero's welcome.
However, in Kael's view, he now looked more like a pig ready for slaughter.
A victory celebration was indispensable; that night, a few senior students brought back a heap of delicious food from the kitchen, and soon the common room was filled with all kinds of tasty steaks and cookies.
"Kael, where did you go just now?" Conna came over with a large piece of bone-in steak, puzzled, she asked: "Why didn't I see you when the game ended."
"I went to the restroom," Kael said.
"That's a pity," Conna whispered: "You missed the most exciting part."
Kael laughed and said: "Not really, I came back just in time to see Cedric catch the Golden Snitch."
"That's good then." Conna smiled and took a bite of the steak, then showed a blissful expression.
Kael looked at her and asked doubtfully: "You're going to sleep soon, are you okay with eating so much now?"
Conna's hand movements suddenly stopped, and her expression became a bit stiff. She turned her head and said softly: "I...I didn't eat much for dinner."
"Is that so?" Kael furrowed his brows, "But why do I remember at dinner...never mind, maybe I remembered wrong."
Conna breathed a sigh of relief and quickly found an excuse to leave before Kael could say anything else.
Everyone was very happy, but what they didn't know was that this feast could be said to be their last revelry.
Because the final exams were fast approaching.
The professors assigned more and more homework, they barely had time to play a game of Wizard Chess.
The Easter holiday was far less fun than Christmas; most people chose to stay at school.
The workload was too much, the blank parchment piled up like little mountains, and they practically had to stay in the library every day, sighing and yawning, desperately trying to finish these heavy assignments.
Besides, they also needed to memorize those "must-know for exams" topics that the professors mentioned, and practice their wand movements.
Though it was a holiday, the corridor was always filled with the complaints of young wizards.
"I can never remember this!" halfway through the holiday, Mikel finally couldn't take it anymore, threw down his quill, and said angrily: "Who the heck discovered the twelve uses of Fire Dragon Blood, it's too many, I can't remember it all!"
"Dumbledore."
Kael, sitting opposite him, replied without raising his head: "Are you planning to challenge him to a duel? That's definitely a great idea, if you can beat him up, Professor Snape surely won't make you memorize these things anymore."
"..."
After a moment of stunned silence, Mikel picked up his quill again, "What was the twelfth use of Fire Dragon Blood again... Oh right, used as a hearth cleaner.
That's not so hard to remember, I should have been more serious just now."
Kael smiled, saying nothing.
An hour later, he too put down his quill and closed his "Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi."
"Kael, have you finished all your homework?"
Mikel and Ryan looked up at him as if they were Nifflers who had found a pile of Galleons.
Kael stretched his shoulders, nodded and said: "Yeah, it's done."
Mikel's eyes lit up, eagerly asking: "Could we... borrow it to reference?"
"...Okay."
This time, Kael did not refuse outright like before; after a moment of hesitation, he handed over his homework to them.
Mainly because he remembered that Mikel and Ryan had already done quite a bit of homework, not much, but definitely about a third.
That way, there was no need to worry about the possibility of copying homework entirely, so it didn't matter if he lent it to them.
In addition, the Easter holiday homework was indeed a bit much.
But to be safe, Kael still reminded: "Remember, don't copy verbatim."
"Don't worry." Mikel confidently patted his chest and said: "We won't make the same mistake twice."