"What's wrong?"Seeing the sudden commotion around him, Marcel couldn't help but pull on Charlotte's sleeve."What's wrong!" Charlotte grinned. "We won the House Cup!""Huh?" Marcel was stunned, feeling as though he had missed something.Just then, Darren sat down on the other side. "Because of you—Dumbledore gave you a full hundred points! Although Gryffindor got a lot of points too, they still didn't have as many as us! This year's House Cup belongs to Hufflepuff!""How long has it been since our house won the House Cup!" he couldn't help but exclaim with emotion.Marcel saw Dumbledore smile and wink at him, as if he too was happy for him to receive this well-deserved honor."This means," Dumbledore said loudly, so he could be heard over the thunderous applause, as even the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students were celebrating Slytherin's sudden, crushing defeat, "we need to make a few changes to the decorations."He clapped his hands, and instantly, the green hangings turned a tawny yellow, and the silver became black. The giant Slytherin serpent vanished, replaced by a timid little badger."No matter how many times I see it, it still looks a bit plain," Marcel thought, looking helplessly at the hall. He felt it would have been better to just give the House Cup to Gryffindor; at least gold and red looked more festive.However, looking at the flushed, smiling face of Head of House Sprout at the head table, and the cheers of the students around him, he couldn't help but feel that his contribution to the house had been worth it after all.A few days later, the exam results were announced.Hermione came in first in the year, and under her supervision, Harry and Ron also achieved good results. As for Marcel, who had never taken the exams seriously, he came in third.One could say his results were good, and they were. But if you were to ask why, with his deep study of magic, he only managed to get third place, one would have to mention his abysmal Astronomy score.Compared to the outstanding grades he received in his other subjects, a barely passing "A" directly dropped him two places in the rankings. It was clear that he really had no interest in Astronomy.At this moment, Marcel, having just come from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to the real King's Cross Station, was heading for the exit."Sigh, if only I could Apparate, I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble..."He grumbled to himself as he slowly made his way out."The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. Why can't I seem to use it properly? The farther the distance, the greater the random error... What a headache!"It was true. He had practiced in Hogsmeade Village more than a hundred times. Every single time, he had successfully moved, but the point of Apparition would always deviate from the intended location, and the farther the straight-line distance, the greater the deviation.Marcel estimated that if he were to Apparate directly from here to Albania, he would end up in either Romania or Italy! Or, the possibility of ending up directly in the sea was not small either."Sigh—" He couldn't help but sigh again at the thought. "I'll just have to take a plane. I'll see what the situation is when I get to Italy...""In any case, I'll go to Gringotts first and exchange some pounds."In Diagon Alley, Marcel, who had intended to go straight to the airport, paused, and ultimately decided to visit the Lovegood residence.After all, this was a long journey, and he didn't know when he would be back. Although the summer holiday was long, he probably had a lot to do, and it was highly likely he would miss the start of the school year.He had gone with Dumbledore to the Headmaster's office earlier precisely to get permission for this in advance, to avoid any trouble later. Unexpectedly, Dumbledore had been surprisingly easy to talk to and had even promised to extend his holiday a little. This was something Marcel had not anticipated at all.…An hour later, Marcel was sitting at the Lovegood's dining table, chatting with Luna."Where's your father? Out gathering material again?" Marcel asked."Mmm, yes. He's always busy," Luna nodded, tilting her head as she looked at Marcel. "Are you going somewhere far away?""Yes, it is quite far," Marcel said with a smile, not elaborating.Luna said "oh" and blinked."The school owls have already started to set out. You should be receiving your Hogwarts letter in a few days," Marcel said, taking a sip of tea. "If I can make it back before school starts, I'll go with you.""You'll probably be in Ravenclaw. I don't think I'm wrong about that. When you get there, you can say hello to the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower. I've already mentioned you to her. She'll show you around and tell you about the school. Trust me, although the Grey Lady is proud, she's a good person."Luna nodded as she listened, seemingly quite interested in starting school.Seeing this, Marcel smiled and added, "Although it's a bit improper for me to say it myself, it seems I'm quite popular at Hogwarts lately, haha... If you run into any trouble, just use my name. I think it should be of some use."After giving Luna detailed instructions, Marcel handed her a small pink suitcase."I made this myself a while ago. It has an Undetectable Extension Charm on it, and an old Ministry of Magic permit," he said. "You can put a lot of things in it, so you won't have too much luggage. It's very convenient. Of course, be discreet when you use it. That permit sticker was moved from another trunk and doesn't match this one.""Mmm, thank you," Luna said with a smile. "But I still want you to come back soon.""Of course. I hope so," Marcel said, looking into Luna's beautiful grey eyes and giving a slight nod.In the end, Marcel did not wait for Xenophilius to return. He said goodbye to Luna and left in a hurry. Before setting off, he had many things to prepare, for example—a cage for his owl, Malfurion.Malfurion had long since pecked his previous cage to pieces and thrown it out. But he couldn't just let Malfurion stand on his shoulder on the plane, could he?Besides that, there were many other things to prepare.Two days passed in a flash. Just as Marcel had arrived at the airport, he saw an unexpected person.It was a little girl dressed in loose-fitting Muggle clothes. The small, light-blue figure and the large hat on her head reminded Marcel of someone."Miss Blois?" Marcel called out, looking at the small figure standing in front of the ticket counter.Vylie turned her head, looked at Marcel, and then said calmly, "Hello.""What are you—"
"Can I ask you a question?"Marcel's words were cut off by Vylie's flat tone. He had to nod and close his mouth."Do you know," Vylie said, "how to get on that—um, airplane?""Is this your first time flying?" Marcel asked, and Vylie nodded in response."Where are you going? I'll help you buy a ticket.""Paris.""Your home is in Paris? Hmm, are you leaving today..."The conversation pattern hadn't changed. Marcel asked, Vylie answered. Although it was efficient with no nonsense, Marcel always felt something was a bit off.Just as Marcel was about to go and queue, Vylie, from behind him, tugged on the hem of his clothes."What is it?" Marcel turned around."Where are you going?" Vylie asked quietly, tilting her head up slightly."Er, to buy tickets?" Marcel was a bit baffled."I, to Paris. You, where." Vylie's face was still calm, as if she were used to people not understanding her."Oh, you mean that! I'm going to Italy. I have some business to take care of," Marcel said, realization dawning."Then, I'll go too," Vylie said, nodding to herself.Then, as if afraid Marcel wouldn't understand, she added, "Italy.""What are you going for? I'm not going for fun. Aren't you going home?" Marcel asked, stunned and confused."Don't want to go home. No plants," Vylie said very naturally. "Not a single one."Marcel felt his head starting to ache again. He even felt that the recent frequency of his headaches might mean the scar on Harry's forehead had been transferred to his own by Voldemort.He tried to reason with Vylie, but she simply wouldn't listen. And Marcel couldn't just leave a little girl who knew almost nothing about the Muggle world here alone. That would give him a sense of guilt for abandoning a child.In the end, Marcel had no choice but to agree. He had a premonition that this journey was going to be a tough one for him.Sitting on the plane, Marcel watched as Vylie pressed her face against the window, staring blankly at the clouds outside. He had that strange illusion again—was it possible that she just didn't know how to express her emotions, and was actually just a very ordinary, low-key little girl, no different from anyone else?"Please don't keep staring at me," Vylie suddenly said, turning her head to look at him calmly.Alright. She was indeed different from other children. At least, other kids her age had already learned some social graces and wouldn't speak so bluntly.Marcel shifted his gaze back to his notebook and began to write and draw again.There were still many rule-runes. If he didn't hurry up and continue his research, who knew how many years it would take to decipher them all.On the plane, Marcel kept his focus on his notebook. It felt like no time at all had passed before they had arrived at their destination.Looking out the window at the architecture full of Italian flair, he felt that if he didn't have so many things to do, this trip might have been something to look forward to.But unfortunately, once he got off the plane, he would be busy again.