Harry Potter: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me from Studying

The sharp whistle blew, and all the train doors closed. The locomotive puffed steam, clattering as it began to move forward. Wade waved goodbye from the window, watching his father's figure gradually recede into the distance.

He turned and sat down, a heavy feeling in his heart.

His Friendship Ledger warmed subtly. When he opened it, he saw several new messages on the first page:

[Fiona: Is the journey smooth? The train should have departed by now, right?]

[Fiona: Miss Ava seems a little unhappy. I think it might be because you didn't bring her with you.]

[Fiona: Is it cold on the train?]

Wade smiled and took out his pen to reply to each message:

[Wade: Everything has been smooth so far. The train just departed, and Dad should be on his way home now.

If Miss Ava is unhappy, maybe you can feed her some dried fish? That's her favorite snack; I remember it's on the second shelf of the cabinet. Or some dried beetles or locusts, she'd be very happy with those too—but don't let her eat too much, or she might get stomach problems.

Of course, I'm sure you know all this already.

Also, there's probably a warming charm on the train to maintain the temperature, so it's not cold at all, and the scarf is very warm.

I'll remember to take more photos.]

"Hey, Wade!" Just as Wade finished writing, Michael poked his head in and said happily, "I knew you'd be in this direction—guys, over here!"

He waved in the other direction, then dragged his trunk into the compartment, excitedly saying, "Big news, right, Wade?"

"—What?" Wade was a little confused.

"The Friendship Ledger, of course!"

Michael pulled out his wand, floated his trunk onto the luggage rack, and sat down, saying, "Before school started, my parents were rushing to buy one! They were all so surprised when they found out I had a whole one in my hands! But I thought it was a secret among SSC members until I suddenly heard it was being sold in Diagon Alley—so the rumor is true, right?"

"—What rumor?" Wade realized that after three weeks, he was a bit out of sync with Michael's topics.

"Oh, we all heard it. Some people even came to ask me because they knew we were in the same year—" Just then, Theo entered the door and continued, "—but I have to say, they didn't seem to believe it much, they thought someone was lying!"

"Hi, Wade. Long time no see—" Ryan followed them in. He said, "I guess you rarely check the SSC chat page, do you?"

"Mm—because I also have to read books..." Wade asked.

"I guessed as much, otherwise you wouldn't have said nothing—" Ryan shrugged. "Let Theo explain, he knows more."

Theo Mancini, although his surname wasn't among the legendary Twenty-Eight Sacred Families, was actually a pure-blood and well-informed.

"It's like this, there were rumors even before the Friendship Ledger was released—" Theo looked at Wade and said, "They said that a new, cheap, and more convenient way of communication was about to appear, which might break the current loose structure of wizards and make relationships between people closer—"

Michael said, "I guessed back then—could they be talking about the Friendship Ledger—"

So even though he had a Friendship Ledger in his hand, he didn't dare share it with his parents or friends. Instead, he kept it at the bottom of his trunk, secretly chatting with his friends every day under the pretext of studying, and instructing them not to reveal the Friendship Ledger.

But at that time, besides Michael's Friendship Ledger being entirely in his own possession, others had at least given a page to their parents. So everyone hastily patched things up and instructed their parents to keep it a secret.

Unexpectedly, two or three days later, the rumors seemed to have spread throughout the world; everyone knew about it.

"Our Floo powder usage was several times faster than usual those few days," Ryan said. "Many people wanted to get involved. My dad said he knew a pure-blood nobleman who tried every possible way to get the distribution rights for America—"

"But the owner of Aslan Magic Workshop—Marchioni is a cunning and elusive figure—that's my grandfather's assessment," Theo continued. "He said Marchioni is like a hyena; if someone provokes him, he'll pull their enemy's intestines out of their... backside."

Grandfather Mancini's words were actually cruder, and Theo was too embarrassed to repeat them, so he vaguely phrased it.

"No one dares to provoke Marchioni—no one has ever gained anything from him. However, some say that Marchioni also obtained the patent authorization for the Friendship Ledger from someone else, and the inventor is only a first-year student at Hogwarts—" Theo looked at Wade.

"Someone was desperately trying to find you, Wade. I was truly afraid to hear your name then," Ryan said with a hint of worry.

Theo continued, "But the great alchemist, Terence Moray, publicly stated at a banquet that the inventor was his student, and he would never tolerate anyone bringing trouble or problems to his student. If anyone went around him to find his student, it would be considered an insult and provocation to Terence Moray—"

Ryan added, "I only found out after that, that Professor Moray holds a very high position in certain fields—and Hogwarts also has Dumbledore—"

Just then, a witch pushing a snack cart passed by the door. They stopped talking and each bought some snacks.

Then the interrupted conversation continued.

"Professor Dumbledore also said that he hoped everyone would respect his student, otherwise he would also have to choose to defend his student's rights—and suddenly, everything went quiet again."

Theo said, as he unwrapped a Chocolate Frog, "I heard that those with ideas are now going back to Marchioni. Perhaps, in comparison, they think provoking Marchioni is less costly—oh, my Chocolate Frog!"

The frog suddenly leaped out. Theo quickly tried to catch it but failed. Finally, just before it jumped out the window, Wade caught it.

"Thank you, Wade."

Wade handed over the Chocolate Frog and asked, "So... my name didn't get out?"

"Most people don't know; many of them still think it's a sixth or seventh-year student!" Ryan said. "But I guess it wouldn't escape the pure-blood noble families—even with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Moray speaking up, Wade, you'd best not be alone at school—"

Michael put his arm around Wade's shoulder, smiling, "Don't worry, we'll stick together like conjoined twins—Speaking of which, buddy, the rumor says Marchioni paid a large sum of Galleons for the usage rights—some say you're rich beyond imagination, is that true?"

While the other two avoided the topic, he asked it frankly.

Wade tried to say it in a calm tone, one that didn't sound like bragging: "It's not that exaggerated, only fifty thousand Galleons."

Michael grimaced as if he had a toothache: "Fifty thousand Galleons! I've never seen that much money in my life!"

Theo, however, laughed relaxedly, "Some even said a million Galleons! What nonsense—"

Ryan suddenly pressed his shoulder, and Theo immediately stopped talking.

A knock came from outside the compartment.