Chapter 139: Deathmatch Game
Wade spread out the map, studying it closely.
At this hour, most students were dining in the Great Hall. Few remained in the dormitories.
Wade located Gryffindor’s Common Room, then carefully examined the sparse cluster of tiny dots.
Aelia Spinet… Jeffrey Hooper… Cormac McLaggen… Dean Thomas… Peter Pettigrew…
There it was.
Wade stared at the small black dot.
Perhaps he was asleep—Peter Pettigrew’s dot remained motionless.
Nearby, Dean Thomas was moving around, and not long after, he exited the dormitory.
Then, Peter’s dot began to move again—clearly heading toward a specific destination, before freezing once more.
Wade speculated. Maybe he was sneaking snacks. After all, Ron wouldn’t give a mouse much food.
Or perhaps he was reading the newspaper—keeping an eye on whether the Death Eaters still had any hope of rising again.
Wade left the map on the table and turned to the shelf along the wall.
The once-empty wooden shelves were now packed with potions—various glass bottles arranged neatly, each labeled with a rectangular tag.
Colorful liquids swirled inside the bottles: some emitted faint wisps of mist, others glowed with an ominous, dark light.
Wade’s gaze swept over the labels.
Polyjuice Potion, Shrinking Potion, Pimple Potion, Expanding Draught, Life-and-Death Elixir, Sweet Annie, Blood-Replenishing Elixir, Confusion Draught, Age-Enhancing Tonic…
Beyond those, there were also ingredients like deadly nightshade, monkshood, wolfsbane, powdered Toxin Horned Beast, feathers from a phoenix’s venomous relative, lead dust, arsenic ore…
Most of these substances were raw toxins.
After all, their textbooks couldn’t teach students how to brew poison. Even when using ingredients like monkshood or mandrakes, it was only for their medicinal properties.
Still, most of these poisons required little processing—just a small amount of powder could be fatal.
Wade scanned the shelf, then paused, frowning.
No Veritaserum.
Not that he didn’t want it—Veritaserum was a restricted substance, impossible to obtain through正规 channels. He certainly wouldn’t ask Ferdinand to sneak into Knockturn Alley to buy it.
The only place it might be found was in the Restricted Section of the library.
…
“The Potent Elixirs?” Madam Pince studied the note, then the wild, looping signature of Lockhart, before asking, “Mr. Gray, this is a very dangerous book.”
“Yes, I know,” Wade replied. “I’ll be careful in studying its useful parts.”
“Fine,” Madam Pince muttered. “Professor Lockhart’s been so reckless lately—approving everything for students…”
She strode into the Restricted Section and returned moments later, pulling out a thick, moldy-looking book. She handed it to Wade.
Wade took it, but didn’t leave right away. Instead, he asked, “Did Professor Lockhart approve any other forbidden books for students?”
“A young Slytherin student,” Madam Pince said, clearly annoyed, “actually borrowed The Most Poisonous Magic! He has no sense of boundaries!”
“That student… couldn’t be Draco Malfoy, could it?” Wade guessed.
The flicker of recognition on her face confirmed it.
But she quickly hardened her expression. “Don’t go digging, Mr. Gray. I can’t disclose student secrets.”
…
“Stay away from Slytherin lately,” Wade warned the group during the Umbrella Room session, his eyes briefly meeting Michael’s.
“Why?” Harry asked.
“He borrowed a copy of The Most Poisonous Magic from the library,” Wade said. “I doubt he’s just reading it for fun—he might be learning dangerous dark magic… and planning to use it on someone.”
“Come to think of it,” Hermione glanced between Harry and Neville, “Malfoy hasn’t bothered you two lately, has he?”
“No,” Harry said, puzzled. “He joined the Slytherin Quidditch team. I expected him to show off more.”
“Malfoy’s been struggling lately,” Liam said. “I once saw him arguing with a few Slytherins near the dungeon. He almost got shoved down by Crabbe.”
Slytherin and Hufflepuff shared a close proximity between their common rooms, so encounters with Slytherin students were frequent.
“That’s strange,” Harry frowned. “Crabbe’s always been Malfoy’s loyal henchman, right?”
Padma offered quietly, “Maybe he’s tired of being a follower.”
Michael smirked, about to speak—but Wade shook his head at him.
“Let’s not worry about Slytherin,” Wade said, tapping his wand against his palm. “Have you all mastered the Stunner spell?”
“Of course,” they all nodded.
Hermione’s eyes sparkled. “Are we learning a new spell?”
Wade shook his head. “Real combat doesn’t need many spells—just the ones you know best. Ideally, ones you can cast without thinking, without words, even without a wand.”
“Silent, wandless magic?” Theo murmured. “That’s incredibly difficult…”
“Exactly,” Wade said. “That’s our long-term goal.”
“For now, our task is simple: draw your wand in the shortest time possible, cast the spell successfully while dodging, and hit your target.”
“How do we train?” Michael asked eagerly. “Like before—just practice throwing spells?”
Wade shook his head. “What we did before wasn’t real practice. It was just standing in place and firing off spells.”
“To truly master spellcasting, we’re going to play a game.”
He smiled—a little too pleasantly.
“What game?” Neville swallowed hard, nervous.
Wade grinned.
“Deathmatch!”
…
“Hey, Wade, you’re here!” The Weasley Twins slapped the fence beside them and waved.
Hagrid was nearby, pruning bushes that towered over a man’s height. He waved back cheerfully.
Beside him lay the pumpkin patch—dozens of pumpkins, each as tall as a person, growing in abundance.
“Good heavens, they’re huge!” Neville breathed in awe.
Harry hadn’t visited Hagrid in days, and he was stunned by the transformation of his vegetable garden. “Hagrid, how did you make them grow so big?”
“Inflation Charm?” Hermione turned to Wade. “Are we training here?”
“Yes,” Wade said, nodding. “This setting’s perfect. You can hide behind the pumpkins and launch surprise attacks—hard to defend against.”
Fred perched on a smaller pumpkin, grinning. “The ideal spot would be the Forbidden Forest. But Hagrid won’t let us near it—even on the edge!”
George sighed in disappointment.
For Wade, the ideal training ground would’ve been the Room of Requirement—capable of mimicking any environment.
But as long as Peter Pettigrew was still at Hogwarts, he wasn’t ready to reveal that secret to Harry and the others.
(End of Chapter)
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