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

"Knock, knock, knock."

Someone gently tapped on the compartment door.

Theo, sitting closest to the door, got up to open it. "Hello?"

Wade and the others heard voices from outside:

"Mancini? Are you in this compartment?"

"I heard Wade Grey is in here—"

"Looks like we got the wrong one—should be further up—"

The people outside discussed amongst themselves, about to move on to another compartment, but an accidental glance allowed one of them to spot Wade sitting inside.

The student froze for a moment, his casual expression not yet gone, transforming into an enthusiastic smile in an instant.

"So he really is here?" He squeezed past Theo, bringing the other two inside as if they were old friends. "Hey, Grey, how was your holiday?"

Theo was pushed into a corner, helplessly watching as three students, much taller than him, entered the compartment, making the space suddenly feel cramped.

—Who are you?

Wade's brow subtly arched, just about to speak, when Michael suddenly cut in. He stood up, smiling, "Long time no see, Prewett. I heard you went to Iceland for Christmas?"

Only then did Prewett turn his gaze to Michael, smiling, "Yeah, saw some impressive sights. When I got back, I heard about the Book of Friends—" His eyes landed on Wade. "—It's absolutely amazing! I immediately bought the complete hardcover set of the Book of Friends, all twelve volumes, one for each month of the year."

Michael played along, praising him. "As expected of the Prewett family, even Marchioni has to make way for you. We only managed to snag one copy due to the purchase limit; I guess we'll have to wait two weeks for a second."

"Don't worry, it won't be that long. As long as there's money to be made, Marchioni's as fast as riding a Grany. Of course—the December limited edition was only sold in the first batch, and only to truly ancient and noble pureblood families, unlike some... well, different ones."

He said this haughtily and meaningfully, seemingly glancing at Theo by accident.

The Mancini family wasn't bad, certainly much wealthier than the Weasleys. But Theo had been sorted into Hufflepuff, as if branded with the label of "foolish idiot," immediately relegating him to the lower echelons of the pureblood contempt hierarchy.

Lyra's face turned cold. She was about to stand up but Theo pressed her shoulder, stopping her from speaking.

Michael seemed to miss the insinuation, smiling, "The Prewett family is indeed very ancient—and these two are—"

The two standing behind Prewett had been observing Wade with considerable interest, occasionally glancing at Michael. The two Hufflepuffs were completely ignored. Their scarves were largely green with silver stripes, and their expressions carried a hint of gloom—clearly, they were both Slytherins.

Among the houses, the only one with a somewhat decent relationship with the Snake House was Ravenclaw, but "decent" meant they would greet each other and exchange a few polite words when they met; they rarely traveled together.

Prewett had been waiting for someone to ask, so he immediately introduced them: "This is Gaston Yaxley—"

The blond, bushy-browed boy smiled and nodded at Wade.

"And this is O'Neal Foley—"

The dark-skinned boy with a softer face smiled warmly.

"—They are both sixth-year Slytherin students. They heard the inventor of the Book of Friends was in this compartment, so they wanted to meet you."

Prewett said, still smiling, but his gaze met Michael's forcefully, signaling—get out of the way, kid!

Michael couldn't block them any longer and reluctantly stepped aside, winking at Wade as he turned, silently conveying a message.

Gaston Yaxley then stepped forward, politely extending his hand. "Hello, Mr. Grey."

Under Michael's slightly tense gaze, Wade rose and shook his hand. "Hello."

Though his tone was bland, people were naturally more tolerant of talented individuals.

As long as it wasn't an outright rejection, in Slytherin's view, it was a sign of friendliness.

Yaxley's pale face showed a faint smile. "I didn't expect the inventor of the Book of Friends to be so young. Ravenclaw hasn't produced such an excellent student in many years. Mr. Grey, you are a truly capable and gifted talent, and your future won't be inferior to Terence Morrie. I think you'll need a larger stage to fully unleash your wisdom."

He paused, drawing out his words, "The Yaxley family would be very willing to offer you some assistance."

Prewett, though still smiling, couldn't help but show a hint of jealousy.

Michael looked at him, then glanced at Foley on the other side—this Slytherin's smile was impeccable, revealing no discernible thoughts.

"Thank you very much for your kindness; I am deeply honored," Wade said politely. "However, I am merely an apprentice in alchemy and still far from comparable to Professor Morrie."

"Of course—Professor Morrie's skill is beyond doubt, but I admire your future even more," Yaxley said, with an almost imperceptible air of superiority. "While the alchemy in the Book of Friends is quite basic, something many sixth and seventh-year students could achieve, what's truly commendable is the ingenious idea—how did you come up with it?"

Wade nodded and said, "Speaking of that, I can't really claim it as an original creation—are you familiar with Muggle internet?"

"—Muggles?" The trio's faces changed almost simultaneously, as if they had heard some contaminating term.

"Yes," Wade said with a smile. "The core communication protocol of the internet is TCP/IP. It transmits data by dividing it into packets. The client sends requests to the server, and receives and parses the server's responses. The server then returns the processed results to the client. The sequence of operation instructions and raw data during input…"

Wade politely gave them a rundown of how computers work, then went on about various perplexing concepts like the internet, cloud computing, electronic chips, wide area networks, data planes, and even rambled about future e-commerce, the deep integration of artificial intelligence and big data, blockchain technology, and digital currency.

Only his voice remained in the compartment; the others stared blankly, as if they had turned into bewildered infants. Even some students who had rushed over upon hearing the news, hoping to meet Wade Grey, stood at the door, hesitant to enter, as if there were some strange seal here.

When Wade finally paused, the trio, who had politely refrained from interrupting him, immediately stood up to take their leave. Their faces were as pale as if they had just been drenched in a downpour, and their retreating figures even showed a hint of hurried escape.

Theo walked over to close the door. He saw the few people still in the corridor quickly avert their gaze, as if terrified he might pull them in to be bombarded by the magical sound.

Theo closed the door, locked it with a spell, and the four of them burst into laughter simultaneously.