"Is it really necessary to start reviewing for finals now?"
Watching Hermione, who had already started creating a revision schedule in front of him, Ron felt his head swell a full size larger.
During this period, they had to spare energy to keep an eye on Snape, terrified that if they weren't paying attention, Snape would steal the Philosopher's Stone.
Fortunately, Snape hadn't found a way past the three-headed dog yet.
But long-term surveillance was the most torturous and mentally draining work; they hadn't been able to relax for a moment recently.
Ron felt like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and now Hermione was urging them to start reviewing for final exams.
Harry and Ron didn't care about the exams at all; there were still more than two months left before the end of the term.
But Hermione kept nagging them, telling them to do the same.
"Do you realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year?" The little beaver knitted her brows fiercely. "They are very important! I should have started reviewing a month ago, I don't know what was wrong with me then..."
Harry looked at Hannah and Kyle, who were playing Wizard's Chess nearby, and asked weakly, "What about them?"
Kyle turned his head. "If your Potions knowledge was like mine, and you had already started studying fourth-year content, you wouldn't need to memorize this book."
He pointed to the thick copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi in Harry's hand.
Harry felt his vision go dark. First-year Potions was already driving him crazy, let alone fourth-year.
What kind of monsters were these!
Had Hogwarts become this cutthroat?
Kyle was a monster, not to mention his last name was Dumbledore; Harry knew he couldn't compare.
So he cast a hopeful look at Hannah, attempting to regain some sense of superiority as the Savior.
At the same time, he was looking for an excuse to comfort himself for slacking off.
"Hannah has been learning healing magic with Madam Pomfrey lately, and she often helps Madam Pomfrey as an assistant in her spare time."
Hermione's words dealt a critical blow to Harry's soul.
Kyle added another stab on top of that.
"According to Madam Pomfrey, Hannah is very talented in medical magic."
"If Hannah achieves excellent grades in her N.E.W.Ts in seventh year, she can write a recommendation letter for Hannah to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
With Madam Pomfrey's connections, her recommendation letter would allow Hannah to skip the internship phase and directly obtain the status of a Healer.
If this were the Muggle world, it would be roughly equivalent to a medical student locking in a residency position at a top-tier hospital before even graduating.
And what Kyle didn't mention was that, in addition to learning medical magic in her spare time, Hannah also set aside time to learn chakra control techniques.
That's right, Kyle had taught the magic control techniques he had drummed up to Hannah, and Hermione as well.
Perhaps because learning medical magic requires a delicate mind, Hannah's progress in magic control was not slow.
Soon, a magical version of the Princess Tsunade would appear at Hogwarts.
Harry was still ignorant about everything in the Wizarding World and didn't understand what Kyle and the others were talking about, but he gathered it was impressive.
On the other hand, Ron, sitting beside him, had been battered to the point of vomiting blood.
Hannah, who looked the most inconspicuous in the academic trio, was actually a big shot with a guaranteed spot at St. Mungo's.
Being praised by the two of them, Hannah's face flushed slightly, and she waved her hand somewhat shyly.
"Actually, I'm not that outstanding."
Staring at Hannah in front of him, Kyle became entranced as he looked.
He wondered if Hannah would possess a bosom as broad as Tsunade's in the future.
Sensing Kyle's gaze, the pink on Hannah's face spread to more areas.
"What are you looking at! It's your turn!"
"Oh, oh," Kyle snapped back to reality and shifted his gaze back to the chessboard. "Sorry."
Surrounded by overachievers, Ron, the total flop, had given up hope of competing with them.
Anyway, he still had Harry, a fellow flop, to keep him company. That made it okay.
He threw down the quill in his hand with a bit of self-abandonment and turned his gaze out the window.
The sky was clear and bright, a blue like the color of forget-me-nots. There was a scent of approaching summer in the air; this was the first time in months they had encountered such fine weather.
Ron seemed to have forgotten that Harry was also a filthy rich tycoon.
Harry had an inheritance left by his parents. The mountain of gold stored in the vault beneath Gringotts amounted to at least ten thousand Galleons.
Just as Hermione was studying hard and the other four were working hard at slacking off, Hagrid came shuffling over.
Summer was nearly here, yet he was unseasonably wearing a moleskin overcoat, obviously hiding something behind his back.
Because Kyle and Hannah were present, the Savior trio did not chat with Hagrid about the Philosopher's Stone.
Although Ron harbored some desire to show off to Hagrid that they had already figured out who Flamel was, he ultimately didn't speak up.
For the past month or so, Kyle had been going to Snape for private lessons every night. Kyle hadn't deliberately hidden this, so everyone present knew about it.
The matter of Snape wanting to steal the Philosopher's Stone absolutely could not be known by Kyle.
It wasn't that they didn't trust Kyle; they were afraid Kyle wouldn't be able to resist confronting Snape directly.
If that really happened, they would lose the element of surprise entirely.
After simply greeting the young wizards, Hagrid shuffled away.
"I'm going to see what book he was looking for just now." Ron became interested in Hagrid's suspicious behavior; he had long since grown impatient with reading.
A minute later, he returned, his arms full of a large pile of books, and slammed them heavily onto the table.
Kyle curiously picked one up. Written clearly on the cover was—Postpartum Care for Mother Dragons.
Black lines formed on his forehead. Given Hagrid's criminal record, he was definitely raising a dragon in secret, wasn't he?
Causing trouble behind his and his old man's back again?
"Dragons!" Ron whispered. "Hagrid was looking up information about dragons! Look at these!"
"Hagrid has always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I met him," Harry said.
Privately raising a three-headed dog was already illegal, let alone a fire dragon, which was a grade more dangerous than a three-headed dog.
Hagrid was going a bit too far this time. Even Dumbledore might not be able to help Hagrid handle this matter properly.
A three-headed dog still had the possibility of being tamed—look at Fluffy now; when meeting Kyle, who counted as half its master, it was the living image of a lapdog.
But with the violent temper of a fire dragon, it was impossible to tame. Thinking one could live in harmony with the Dragon race like in How to Train Your Dragon was impossible.
An adult fire dragon required at least ten adult wizards to subdue.
Kyle didn't think that, with Dumbledore absent, Hagrid alone could handle a fire dragon.
Unless Hagrid could open up to the Sixth Gate.
Hey, speaking of which, he wondered how Hagrid's Eight Inner Gates training was going.
Kyle withdrew his gaze from the pile of books Ron had brought over and commanded his chess piece to checkmate Hannah's King.
"Let's go. Let's go see what the hell Hagrid is up to."
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