Chapter 260: Dylan: Maybe I'm Thinking of Dating Too
"Look, Harry, the time they're talking about, Hermione was still in class with us in Shanghai!"
"And Macmillan told me that Hermione has never missed a Muggle Studies class, but that class always conflicts with Divination."
Ron's voice dropped to a mysterious whisper. "The weird thing is, Hermione has never missed a Divination class either, has she?"
Macmillan was the pure-blood wizard who had a conflict with Harry last school year, was instantly petrified by Hermione, and then later realized his mistake and apologized. He was a Hufflepuff student, and now he had a decent relationship with Ron and Harry.
Dylan knew Macmillan, too. The guy deeply respected Cedric. One time, when Dylan was chatting with Cedric, Macmillan stood nearby. Dylan and Cedric both assumed he was just passing by or wanted to be there for some reason. It wasn't until they finished their conversation that Macmillan finally approached Cedric, revealing he wanted to ask him some questions about a professor.
Speaking of Cedric, the boy had been coming to chat with Dylan quite a bit lately. He always claimed he wanted to exchange magical knowledge with a genius, but as soon as they started talking, the conversation would take a 180-degree turn and veer into how a couple should get along.
Cedric was constantly sharing stories of his interactions with his girlfriend, force-feeding Dylan a mouthful of "dog food" (a Chinese slang term for public displays of affection). The most surprising thing was seeing this big guy get all shy and blush while talking about these things. The contrast was truly something else.
Even though Dylan had previously said he wouldn't do any more divination for Cedric and Cho Chang about their future together, he still gave Cedric little bits of advice. Things like small talk between couples, little surprises they could give each other, or fun games to help their relationship grow. He had seen plenty of this stuff.
With the advent of the internet age, people's minds had become a bit... abstract. So, even the small, simple ideas Dylan shared with Cedric—a random sweet word, a surprise, a fun game—would make Cedric's eyes go wide.
Surprisingly, Dylan, who had never been interested in dating, was starting to reconsider. As he taught Cedric how to navigate a relationship and listened to his enthusiastic feedback and all the little details, a rare thought emerged: maybe it wouldn't be so bad to find a partner after all.
And while most witches and wizards their age were still a bit immature in their thinking, not everyone was. Take Luna, for example. Her thoughts were not only unique but also very mature in many ways. His relationship with her was quite good.
However, whether they could take it to the next level wasn't just up to him. What if Luna didn't want to date or was already interested in someone else? It was better to just let things happen naturally. Besides, Luna was still a young girl. He was a kid too, and the idea of dating right now felt a bit strange.
If he were to seriously consider it, he might be more willing to date Vera, or even Delphini, or Ravenclaw herself. Of course, this was just a hypothetical thought about who might be a suitable partner, not that he actually had feelings for them. And even if he did start a relationship with one of them, there would definitely be problems.
Delphini, for one, was only compatible with his other side. He couldn't exactly sneak out of school every day just to see his girlfriend—that would be a huge waste of time. And Ravenclaw? She was even more of a wild card. While she had her own thoughts and personality, she was still just a portrait that had transformed into a person.
Thinking it through, the only one who seemed like a genuinely good option was Vera, Florin's daughter. But he had only met her a few times. He couldn't just walk up to her and say, "Hey, pretty girl, want to have a whirlwind romance with a third-year little squirt like me?" That would be insane.
Gently shaking his head, Dylan set down Harry's essay. He had only written enough for Harry to pass Snape's inspection, so there was no need to put any more effort into it. He turned to Ron, tilting his head.
"Why are you so interested in Hermione's business? You even went to Macmillan to ask if she'd missed Muggle Studies."
Ron's face froze, and a faint blush crept up his cheeks. "What? I'm not interested in her business! Don't go slandering me…" Ron cleared his throat and mumbled, "I was just a little bit curious, that's all! Just curious! How could she not be in class and still get all the work done? Aren't you curious?"
Dylan let out a soft chuckle. He, of course, knew how Hermione did it. In fact, if he hadn't gotten rid of those extra classes himself, he'd probably have even more homework to deal with. But was Ron really just "a little bit curious" about Hermione's schedule?
He pursed his lips and repeated, "Just a little bit of curiosity?"
Ron's face turned bright red, and he nodded vigorously. "Yes! Just curious! A little bit of curiosity!"
Dylan nodded slowly. "Well, if you say so, I'll believe you… for now."
Ron's eyes widened slightly, and he stiffened his neck. "Dylan, you say that like you don't believe me at all!"
"That's because I don't."
Ron was speechless. After a long pause, he couldn't think of anything to say and finally gave up.
Dylan handed Harry's essay back to him, finished his book, and went back to his common room. Ron and Harry both lamented his departure with a pained expression. When Dylan was there, they could just ask him anything they didn't know. But now that he was gone and Hermione was buried in her own mountain of homework, they didn't dare disturb her. Now they were on their own when they ran into a problem.
Back in his dorm, Dylan prepared to get something to eat. Not in the Great Hall, but in the Hufflepuff kitchens. He planned to copy the magic from the secret oven there first. He had studied the oven before and knew it contained many spells for cooking. He wanted to create a food assembly line, and the spells from the oven would be very useful.
But as he arrived at the kitchen door, he saw Luna approaching from the other direction. Dylan paused, then stood still, smiling at her. "Cooking by yourself? Didn't you get enough to eat at dinner?"
Seeing Dylan, Luna's lips curved into a faint smile. "I did, but I had a delicious chocolate and grape pie in the Great Hall, and I wanted to see if I could replicate it."
Dylan nodded. "You mean the new dessert they put out? I tried it too, it was pretty good."
Luna walked over to him. "What about you? What brings you here on your own?"
Dylan smiled. "I'm thinking of creating a food assembly line, so I came back to study that secret oven again."
Luna blinked. "An assembly line?"
Dylan explained, "It's a system where we wouldn't have to do anything ourselves, or even put ingredients in the oven. We would just press a button, and a delicious meal would appear on our table."
Luna tilted her head, her hair falling softly around her ear, making her fair face look even more delicate. "That sounds so convenient. But it must be a lot of trouble to build something like that, right?"
Luna's first reaction wasn't to question why Dylan had such an idea, or to judge him for being too lazy to even cast a spell on the ingredients, or to think it was a pointless endeavor. Instead, she was helping him consider the difficulty of the process.
Dylan paused, a small smile on his lips. "It's not exactly simple, but it's not overly complex either."
Luna nodded gently. "If that's the case, may I have the honor of helping you build this assembly line?"
Dylan looked at Luna in surprise. "You're interested in something like this?"
Luna's expression was calm, but her eyes were sparkling. "Yes. Most wizards who want to cook conveniently will just research a new cooking spell. This is the first time I've heard of a wizard wanting to create an 'assembly line' that delivers a meal to you with just the press of a button. If you don't mind, I would like to study it with you."
Dylan didn't refuse. He just nodded. "Then let's do it together. I've pretty much finished setting up the spells I needed. Now I just need to re-examine the spells in the oven, tinker with them a bit, and I should be good to go."
The two walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the corner. Some Hufflepuffs were milling around, cooking, and several looked up as Dylan and Luna entered. Dylan smiled and waved at them.
Luna asked, "This assembly line, it's not a literal line, is it? To produce food with the press of a button, you must need to rely on some kind of equipment, like the secret oven, right?"
Dylan understood what Luna meant. "Exactly. For example, with this oven, we have to put the ingredients in, and then it cooks them. But the thing I want to create could be an oven, a pot, or even just a bowl or a plate. We just think of what we want to eat, and it appears on the plate. That's what I'd call a food assembly line—something that removes the need for us to even prepare the ingredients."
Luna's eyebrows were faint, and her messy, waist-length hair gave her a wild, effortless beauty. "I understand," she said, nodding gently, her gaze thoughtful.
They walked side-by-side through a corridor lined with copper pots, finally arriving at the corner of the kitchen. But they found two people already there, squatting on the floor and staring intently at the food cooking inside the secret oven.
Dylan raised an eyebrow, walking over with interest. "Cedric? You didn't get enough to eat at dinner, either?"
Cedric and Cho looked up at the sound of his voice. Seeing Dylan, Cedric's eyes lit up. "What are you doing here so late? Did you turn our kitchen into your own personal cafeteria?"
The girl next to Cedric also turned her head. It was Cho Chang.
"Dylan? Hello."
Cho's black hair was soft and looked recently styled, falling loosely over her shoulders. She had a very typical East Asian face and was the Ravenclaw "house flower." She was truly beautiful, with bright eyes. She had met Dylan before but wasn't familiar with him and had never spoken to him.
Dylan smiled at her. "Hello, Cho."
Cedric stood up and helped Cho to her feet. Seeing that Cho seemed interested in Dylan, and was even glancing back and forth at his face, which was a little bit more handsome than his own, Cedric felt a sudden pang of crisis. He subtly stepped forward, half-blocking Cho with his body, and then looked at Dylan and Luna.
"My classmates said they've seen you two come to our kitchen together multiple times. Are you two...?" Cedric's gaze shifted between Dylan and Luna. "...on a date?"
Cho's eyes peeked over Cedric's shoulder to look at Dylan and Luna. As a Ravenclaw, she naturally knew Luna, who didn't socialize much and wasn't particularly popular with the other students in their house. And Dylan? While they weren't familiar, she had heard his name many times.
He was the boy favored by all the heads of house. Even that harsh bat of a professor from Slytherin praised him and never deducted points from him, only adding them. With all this talk, it was hard not to remember his name.
And besides... her boyfriend, Cedric, constantly brought him up. Sometimes after their dates, Cedric would tell her that the date, or the little game they had just played, was something Dylan had taught him. Sometimes, she wasn't sure if she was dating Cedric or Dylan...
(End of Chapter)
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