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

Early morning, the bedroom was still pitch black. Wade, in a sleepy haze, suddenly felt someone watching him.

In his solitary dorm room, that gaze, not his own, was remarkably palpable.

Wade groggily opened his eyes. In the darkness, he suddenly saw a row of huge, shimmering eyes, like small lanterns floating in the air.

Thump!

His heart lurched violently. Wade abruptly sat up, instinctively grabbing his wand and pointing it. "Who's there!"

"Mr. Gray is awake," a house-elf's high-pitched voice chirped. "Zoe knew Mr. Gray would be back at the castle today. Zoe has been waiting."

Long, slender fingers snapped in the air, and the oil lamp in the dormitory immediately lit up.

Three house-elves stood side-by-side on the dorm room floor, completely oblivious to how terrifying their late-night appearance was. Their faces beamed with enthusiastic smiles as they looked at Wade.

Wade felt his pounding heart almost bruise his ribs. He took deep breaths, his cold fingers gradually warming, but a tingling sensation still ran through his scalp.

"Zoe, Hobby, Phil," Wade said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Long time no see—why did you suddenly appear in the middle of the night?"

The elves bowed deeply, their large ears flapping, and said happily:

"It's like this—Christmas, Phil received Wade Gray's gift again—"

"But Wade Gray must have noticed—he didn't receive Hobby's gift—"

"It's not that there was no gift, but because Zoe prepared something better—"

"Phil wanted to give Wade Gray the gift he truly wanted. But what did Wade Gray want? Phil thought and thought—"

"While cleaning in Ravenclaw Tower, Hobby overheard first-year students talking, and then Hobby finally knew—"

The three house-elves broke into joyful smiles and said in unison, "Wade Gray will definitely want a broomstick!"

"I do want one," Wade said, sitting on his bed and looking at them. "But school rules forbid first-year students from bringing broomsticks into the school."

Otherwise, he could have bought a new one himself during the Christmas holidays.

"There are indeed rules, but Wade Gray won't break them," Zoe said, spreading her arms. "Because the broomstick is already in the school; Wade Gray is just using it."

It was certainly permissible for first-year students, if they performed well in flying lessons, to borrow an older student's broomstick for a short flight afterward. Quidditch teams from various houses often had younger wizards waiting around the pitch during practice, just to borrow brooms for a thrill after their training ended.

But house-elves couldn't possibly steal students' broomsticks, nor could they give him a communal school broomstick as a gift.

"Did you—find a discarded broomstick?" Wade asked, looking at the elves in surprise.

"More than—more than one," Hobby wagged his ears cheerfully. "There are several! Broomsticks with no owner—"

"Come with Zoe, Wade Gray," the elf said, pulling his finger. "Zoe wants to take Wade Gray to get his gift."

"Oh, okay—wait, let me get dressed." Wade threw off his covers and sat up, then looked at the elves. "Uh—could you excuse yourselves for a moment?"

…

On a January morning, the sky was very dim, cold wind howled against the windows, and a layer of frost even condensed on the windowsill. Wade followed the three house-elves down the empty castle corridors, clearly hearing the echo of his own footsteps.

It was almost dawn by now; even Filch wouldn't be patrolling, waiting to catch students violating curfew. The entire castle seemed to be left with only Wade, as if walking through an ancient oil painting.

Wade, bundled in thick clothes, looked at the house-elves, who were still only wearing thin tea towels, and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you cold, wearing so little?"

Phil shook his head and said, "Not cold. Phil can adapt to different environments, summer, winter, very cold, very hot, all fine."

—What peculiar creatures.

Wade gazed at them intently.

What peculiar and powerful creatures they were, unlike wizards, not dependent on wands, inherently capable of wandless magic, possessing exceptionally unique and powerful magic, and able to Apparate without restriction.

If wizards hadn't embedded thoughts like "absolute obedience" and "house-elves must be enslaved by wizards" in their genes or souls, they would probably be more dangerous to wizards than dragons.

Historically, goblins had several rebellions, always fighting for their racial rights. But house-elves, even when abused and killed by wizards, would not resist, nor would they disobey their masters' commands.

So ordinary wizards almost all longed to own their own house-elves, but wizards who did own house-elves rarely treated them well. These house-elves belonging to Hogwarts were considered to be very well-treated among their kind; at least, students didn't amuse themselves by abusing them.

Wade lowered his eyes, following the elves along the corridor for a long distance, sometimes descending two flights of stairs, sometimes ascending several, until they reached a place near Gryffindor Tower.

The corridor was empty, with a blank white wall on one side. Opposite it was a huge tapestry depicting a wizard in a hat teaching trolls to ballet dance, all the trolls twisted their heads to look at them.

Wade suddenly remembered a place, and a huge anticipation surged within him. He quietly asked, "What is this place?"

"The Come and Go Room, Mr. Gray," Zoe said. "We also call it 'The Room of Requirement'; it only appears when someone truly needs it."

"You have to walk past this wall three times, concentrating on what you need," Hobby said, then walked to the front of the wall, mumbling softly, "Hobby needs a place to hide things... a place to hide things... a place to hide things..."

He walked back and forth, and on his third pass, a smooth door suddenly appeared on the wall, with a lustrous brass handle.

Phil stood on tiptoe, tugging hard on the brass handle, and the large door slowly opened.

Wade couldn't help but hold his breath.

Before him was what seemed like a city of high walls, countless discarded items piled up, forming mountain-like "streets" and "alleys"—broken furniture, rusted weapons, statues severed by dark magic, Muggle cannons, thousands of books, various forbidden dangerous small toys, glass bottles filled with unknown potions.

His heart pounded.

The three house-elves, with proud and joyful smiles on their faces, presented him with a broomstick that had been cleaned and polished, still tied with an old red ribbon.

"This is Mr. Gray's Christmas gift!" they exclaimed. "It's the best one here!"

"It's a bit old, but it can still fly very well," Phil added in a soft voice.

—No.

Wade thought to himself.

—This Room of Requirement, which he had sought for so long but never found, was the true gift!

He grabbed the broom, a joyful smile blossoming on his face, as if the entire room had brightened because of it. His smile was incredibly infectious, making the three little elves also break into silly, contented smiles.

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