September 1st.
In front of King's Cross Station, Ethan helped Penelope out of the car, still holding a suitcase in his hand.
Ethan had returned from Ottery-St. Catchpole Village the previous day, and this time he used Apparition to go directly to Knockturn Alley.
Over the past two days, he had a lot of conversations with the twins' father about car modifications. Arthur had made great strides in this area, and the results were quite impressive. The car didn't look like much, but it was actually intelligent—it could move on its own, had its own ideas, didn't require fuel, and even had a stealth mode to avoid detection.
Naturally, Ethan also had his own ideas during these discussions.
As a result, he had decided to discreetly drive his father's beloved McLaren F1 into the box enchanted with the Extension Charm, intending to modify it when he got to Hogwarts.
The McLaren F1, which he had just bought earlier this year, was the latest model and a stunningly good looking car. It was undoubtedly one of the top sports cars of its time, and purchasing it had required significant effort.
Normally, Ethan's father treated the car like a prized possession, so naturally, Ethan hadn't told him what he intended to do with it. He planned to act first and ask for permission later.
Only a car like this was worth modifying. If he had chosen a sedan or an off-road vehicle, it would have been a waste of materials.
Modifying it properly would require not only time but also a lot of resources.
Penelope had also arrived from Plymouth by train the previous day. She used to come a day earlier and stay at a hotel, but now, of course, she stayed directly at Ethan's house.
"I feel like I lost this summer vacation."
"What do you mean?"
Penelope, dressed in a plaid shirt, jeans, and Martin boots, turned her head to look at Ethan, puzzled.
She was heading back to school, so a black silk high-heeled short skirt was out of the question. Plus, it was a bit chilly in London this September.
"You promised to be my maid over the summer, and I taught you quite a bit."
"You weren't even home for most of the summer, how could I have been your maid?"
Penelope rolled her eyes. How could she be blamed for that?
"Shall we continue next year?"
Ethan looked at Penelope with hopeful eyes, still thinking about her in the maid outfit.
When Penelope had agreed to the idea, Dumbledore hadn't spoken to Ethan yet, so circumstances had changed.
With the real summer break only lasting half a month, he couldn't have her skip going home just to fulfill her "maid duties" at his place.
"I'll think about it and let you know next year."
"What's there to think about? Just agree to continue next year!"
"Haha!"
Penelope was indeed rather bored at home over the summer. She might as well have been a maid at Ethan's place—provided he was actually home.
She couldn't practice magic at home, and having been away from the Muggle world for so long, she didn't have much in common with anyone there. She couldn't even find anyone to go shopping with, so she ended up staying home reading books.
Soon, the two reached the barrier at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, surrounded by many young witches and wizards looking around.
The two workers from last year were still there.
Unknowingly, a whole year had passed.
After passing through the barrier, Ethan said goodbye to Penelope. As a prefect, she was very busy during this time of year.
By the end of the school year, even first-year students had experienced the Hogwarts Express at least once. But the new students arriving at the start of the year didn't have such experience.
After boarding the train, Ethan began looking for a seat and soon found Cassandra, who was sitting alone in a compartment.
He opened the compartment door, walked in, and sat next to her.
"Cassandra, take out your summer homework. I need to study it."
As he said this, Ethan also made a move, placing four pieces of parchment and four quills on the table.
This year, there were eight subjects in total, but there was no homework for the Flying class, as it wasn't part of the second-year curriculum.
There was no homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts either, because the professor hadn't given any before his sudden departure. It was the fake Quirrell, and Ethan still didn't know what had happened to the real Quirrell. He hadn't asked Dumbledore and didn't really care.
Ethan was particularly strong in Charms and Transfiguration, so there was no need to waste time on those subjects—Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall had exempted him from doing their assignments.
So that left only four subjects: Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Herbology.
The quill Ethan was using was also specially made, a modification based on both the Shorthand Quill and the Auto-Answer Quill.
The Shorthand Quill was a peculiar item that could turn simple sentences into flowery ones.
The Auto-Answer Quill, which was banned during exams, could automatically write down answers.
Ethan's quill had a similar function but didn't create flowery language or automatically answer questions. Instead, it could rewrite and expand on original materials.
With this quill, Ethan wouldn't have to write homework by hand anymore. How convenient!
The idea to invent this came to him while at Nico's place, and after some effort, he had successfully created it.
As far as the young wizards at Hogwarts were concerned, the entire school combined wasn't enough to defeat Ethan. Yet, he still needed to do homework at this level?
"Ethan, are you not doing your homework again?"
As soon as Hermione entered the carriage, she saw Ethan fiddling with a quill and Cassandra's homework. She immediately knew what was going on.
Last time in the café, she had asked if he had finished his homework, and he said he had done it. So, had he actually done it?
Originally, she had said she wanted to help him with his homework.
"Keep your voice down! Do you want to attract everyone here?"
"Go look at how many people are doing homework right now. Most of them are from your Gryffindor."
Although many students were catching up on their homework, Ethan was different. It wouldn't look good for a genius from Ravenclaw to be copying assignments.
"But you're in Ravenclaw!" Hermione said indignantly. She had no control over the study habits in Gryffindor, which had been in decline from first year to seventh, but she didn't want to see Ethan fall into that.
"Do you really think these assignments are useful to Ethan?" Cassandra glanced at Hermione, then glared fiercely at Ethan before turning her head away.
She just wanted to pick a fight with Hermione. Right now, she was in a bad mood and needed to vent her frustration.
She had thought that only she had this unique gift(brooch). But when she realized Hermione had it too, she became even more upset. If Hermione had it, then surely Cho Chang and Penelope Clearwater must have it as well. Maybe the half-blood Veela in France had it too.
What she thought was something special had turned out to be mass-produced.
"These assignments were given by the professors to verify our learning and expand our knowledge," Hermione said with a frown, looking at Cassandra.
"What's the ultimate purpose of homework?" Cassandra countered. "To improve a wizard's strength and knowledge, but these first-year topics are of no use to Ethan. Making him do them is just a waste of his time. Or do you follow every single rule and regulation of Hogwarts, Miss Know-It-All from Gryffindor?"
At this moment, Cassandra was quite blunt, and Hermione was left speechless.
There was a natural rivalry between them, especially since they were the same age and in opposing houses. And with Cassandra already agressive, she wasn't going to hold back.
...
"What's going on?" Cho Chang walked in, sensing the strange atmosphere. She put away her things and asked Ethan.
Ethan didn't say anything but gave her a look.
Cho Chang nodded immediately, understanding.
Ethan knew why Cassandra had acted that way. He could tell from the moment she glared at him—her possessiveness was strong. If he couldn't handle her, he probably wouldn't have a harem.
Now that Cho Chang was trying to mediate, the tension lessened. She had a calm nature, didn't seek out conflict, and had good emotional intelligence. With her around, Hermione and Cassandra couldn't start a quarrel.
In the future, Ethan thought, he'd need to work on improving his physical fitness—not only to be stronger than them but also to ensure victory in bed. An overwhelming victory.
Otherwise, this situation would likely happen often. He envied the men whose harems were harmonious.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rapid knocking sound echoed. Was there a fire? Why were they panicking?
Ethan waved his hand, and the door to the carriage swung open.
"Ethan, you... what is this?"
George Weasley, who had just entered, forgot what he was going to say. He stared at the quill on the table in surprise.
An automatic quill could write answers on its own, but it couldn't write entire essays. And the answers it produced were always the same, word for word. All the professors except for some could spot them instantly, making them useless for homework.
But Ethan's quill clearly wasn't a typical automatic quill. Was this a new model? How come George didn't know about it?
As a member of Gryffindor, George—like most of the others—didn't want to do homework. He urgently needed a new quill to help him.
"I'm just working on a little gadget," Ethan said. "What's up with you?"
"Move!" Ginny Weasley shoved George aside and hurried into the carriage.
"It's Harry and Ron! We've searched the entire train and found no sign of them. Have you seen them?"
She was worried about Harry, of course, and Ronald... well, he was an afterthought.
"Didn't you come together?" Ethan asked. He remembered Harry saying they would be going to Hogwarts with several of the Weasleys on the first of the month.
"We were together before entering the platform, but we haven't seen them since."
Ginny's face fell. She should have been more careful. After all, they had already experienced something like this once last year—how could they have gotten lost again?
"I think you should look over there," Cho Chang pointed out the window, addressing the group.
Ginny, George, and Fred, who had just arrived, were confused. What did she mean?
But they still looked in the direction she indicated.
Ethan, Hermione, and Cassandra were also curious.
Outside, the wilderness stretched on, with mountains rising and falling in the distance—nothing unusual there.
Then suddenly, something green shot into the sky. Upon closer inspection, it was a car. The driver was a red-haired boy, and another unfortunate soul was hanging off the door, about to fall.
Luckily, the boy had impressive arm strength, and with help from the driver, he managed to climb back into the car.
But seriously, where was their magic?
Did they think their wands were just decorative sticks?
Ethan's memory stirred. He recalled the Horcrux—Voldemort's notebook—and remembered that there was also a house-elf who had given Harry a bloodid face.
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