"A blind box?" Hermione froze for a moment, not expecting to find something like that among the Guild's supplies.
Newt also approached to take a look, his instinct telling him that whoever came up with it was probably not a serious wizard. But to him, the blind box seemed like a good deal. The price of a single spell in the guild usually hovered around a hundred points, and some rare spells cost a few thousand. So spending five hundred points on a single spell wasn't a bad deal.
Hermione looked at Tom for his opinion. After she had chosen the precious blind box, Tom's options were very limited. But, of course, Tom couldn't object. He had already chosen what he wanted.
"Purchase!" Hermione paid 518 points in exchange for the opportunity to open the blind box.
Newt's balance decreased by 518, and at the same time, a shelf appeared in front of the three of them, neatly lined with "books" wrapped in leather covers.
"I think it means you have to choose one," Newt explained to Hermione.
Tom scrutinized the shelves, his eyes landing on the book at the far left of the second shelf.
"Hermione, I recommend this one. It should be good," Tom suggested to Hermione.
Hermione was tempted to say, "Who the hell are you to say that? If it turns out to be rubbish, can you be held responsible?" But when she thought about Tom's performance in Divination class, Hermione didn't quite know what to do.
In the end, she chose to trust Tom and picked up the book he had recommended.
When Hermione took the book off the shelf, the three of them realized it wasn't a book at all, but a package of cards: five scrolls wrapped in an outer leather sleeve.
Hermione opened the first scroll, and inside appeared a figure with a pointed wizard hat and a waist-length white beard, none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Newt covered his forehead. The wizard who had provided him with the blind box was really something else!
The image of Dumbledore took out his wand and said, "Mimble Wimble!" And then the image dissipated into a cloud of silver-white smoke that entered Hermione's head.
Hermione felt a memory emerge from the depths of her mind, as if she had actually cast the tongue-tying charm. She couldn't help but take out her wand and try to recite the spell based on the sensation in her mind.
"Mimble Wimble!"
She successfully cast the spell.
"Fantastic!" Hermione looked at the wand in her hand and felt a sense of strangeness. She hadn't been exposed to the spell before, and seconds after obtaining it, she had learned it.
She opened the remaining four scrolls. The first two taught her the Confusion Charm and the Protego Charm. The last two were no longer Dumbledore's shadow but an indistinct black shadow, which taught Hermione two strange spells: Sectumsempra and Levicorpus.
Tom froze upon hearing the words "Sectumsempra" and "Levicorpus," feeling as if he was helping his friend draw a five-star character in one go.
Hermione didn't know, but he did, that Sectumsempra and Levicorpus were powerful spells invented by Snape. The Levicorpus spell could be cast silently, suspending a person upside down in the air. Sectumsempra caused a wound on the body that couldn't be healed with magic unless a counter spell was used.
Both were very good spells.
Tom reviewed the spells Hermione had learned and discovered that those five spells, which were both offensive and defensive, were of very good quality.
"Not only were they very good!" Newt, on the other side of the table, did some calculations and found that it would take thousands of points just to purchase those five spells. Sectumsempra would require a quest, and this Granger girl got them all in one pack? Is she Dumbledore's granddaughter? With these excellent spells, would the quality of the other packs suffer? Because he saw a small note saying that each spell in the blind box was unique.
Meanwhile, a wizard opened the package he had been given with some unease.
After a while of clouds and mist, he showed a look of disbelief. "Levitation spell, illumination spell, cleaning spell, loud voice spell, and happiness spell? Are you kidding me? 518 points for these five rubbish spells?"
He roared, "Damn it, give me my money back!"
...
No, Newt's eyes turned to Tom. He remembered quite clearly that he was the teenager who had just chosen the pack of cards. Could it be...?
Newt stared at Tom for a moment, with thoughtful eyes.
Now he felt a bit curious to know what Tom would choose for his "rookie deck."
He observed as Tom flipped through the pages of his notebook, finally stopping at the end of the page.
"I can't believe he chose this, why?" Newt's mind wandered, but Tom had already made his choice and returned it.
"Thank you, sir. We'll be in touch later. It's getting late, and we have class this afternoon." Tom pointed to the wall clock, which indicated that the lunch break was coming to an end.
"Well, see you later." Newt waved goodbye to Tom but before he left, he asked, "Why did you choose this path? It's very challenging, not for you."
Tom thought for a moment and gave a smile. "For the greater good, naturally! Goodbye~" And then, he departed from the world of dreams.
Newt: !!!
But soon, he smiled in relief. Yes, the boy was truly in this for the greater good!
Back at Hogwarts, Tom and Hermione were immediately immersed in even busier tasks. Today, they had seven classes, four in the morning and three more in the afternoon. The Time-Turner could only turn back time, not help with their mental exhaustion.
When dinner time came, Tom and Hermione had finally finished their full day of classes. But as they entered the Great Hall, they heard the bombshell news that the new Care of Magical Creatures professor, Rubeus Hagrid, had gotten into trouble. The Hippogriff he brought with him had scratched Draco Malfoy from Slytherin just this afternoon!
In response, Gryffindor students and young wizards from Slytherin were on the verge of a brawl. One side believed Hagrid should be expelled, while the other believed it was Malfoy's own fault. Both Hagrid and Malfoy seemed to have disappeared, and chaos broke loose.