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Chapter 47: To Convince Hermione
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 14:07:52 +0000 UTC
"The champion of the House Cup is… Ravenclaw!"
"Ward Kafa?"
As Dumbledore stood at the head table, passionately announcing the winner of the House Cup, Noah was completely dumbfounded.
What the hell is going on?
Looking around at the students who seemed to take it as a given, and at Kenn and the others, who were smiling at him knowingly, Noah had a bad feeling.
Professor Dumbledore, aren’t you supposed to continue your "fine tradition," ignore all other factors that don’t favor Harry, and let Gryffindor win the House Cup at the last minute?
Yes, time had unknowingly passed, and the school year had come to an end.
Noah and his friends, who had prepared beyond measure, weren’t nervous about the final exams at all. On the contrary, they were looking forward to them.
Of course, only they were relaxed—most other students were at least somewhat anxious.
Especially those who were mediocre academically but excelled in mischief—they were downright terrified.
Take Ron, for example. The kid was absolutely petrified.
If he failed his exams, he might have to repeat first year alongside his sister, and that was probably not something his family could afford.
Harry, on the other hand, was much better off. He was a little nervous, but his progress in learning wasn’t bad, so he wasn’t panicking.
Still, to prepare for the exams, even he had holed up in the library, reviewing subjects he wasn’t confident in.
"Ron, what do you think they’re doing right now?"
After studying for a while, Harry felt drained and struck up a conversation with Ron.
"They? Oh, you mean Noah and the others? Probably learning new spells or something. Who knows? Bunch of monsters," Ron responded quickly, though he didn’t seem interested in talking about Noah.
There was no point—Dumbledore had already said that Noah’s group consisted of top-performing students.
And Ron didn’t think he had any chance of joining them.
Think about it—even the Boy Who Lived wasn’t part of that group. What chance did he have?
As for Hermione?
Forget it. If it had been before, he might have grumbled about her being a know-it-all, but now he didn’t dare.
After everything they had faced recently, he felt like a fool just standing near them, watching them be incredible. The mere thought was embarrassing!
"Who do you think will win the House Cup this year?" Harry asked, likely to steer the conversation away from Noah.
"I don’t know… I’d say Ravenclaw has the highest chances, right?" Ron muttered, scratching his face.
Highest chances? More like a sure thing.
With those guys racking up points like walking score machines, Ron felt a sense of despair.
And when he thought about spending the next seven years competing against them, that despair only deepened.
Sure enough, Ron’s prediction turned out to be correct.
Luckily, he managed to pass his first-year exams, narrowly avoiding the nightmare of repeating a year with Ginny.
Now, sitting in the Great Hall for the End-of-Year Feast, he listened as Dumbledore announced the final results.
"As expected," Ron sighed, watching the excited Ravenclaw table with a hint of envy.
The House Cup was Hogwarts’ most prestigious annual award. At the end of each school year, it was given to the house with the most points.
Points were awarded for academic excellence, good behavior, and outstanding achievements, while misbehavior and rule-breaking led to deductions.
Winning Quidditch helped, but ultimately, it was just a factor in the bigger picture.
In short, the House Cup was the highest honor in the school.
And let’s be honest—who didn’t want to win it?
"Honestly, it's fine that they won," Harry mused. "At least it’s better than Slytherin winning again."
His tone carried a trace of envy.
Even though Harry had lost Gryffindor a lot of points due to his adventures, he had also regained quite a few through Quidditch victories and their final adventure.
But in the grand scheme of things, that was nothing compared to Ravenclaw’s unstoppable point streak.
"Hey, Harry. Did you notice Noah’s expression looks kinda weird?"
Suddenly, Ron tugged at Harry’s robes, pointing toward Noah.
"Of course his expression is weird. He rarely gets things wrong," Hermione chimed in from nearby, smiling.
The End-of-Year Feast had students sitting by house, so even if Hermione wanted to talk with Noah and the others, she couldn’t just wander over.
See Ernie? Even he was obediently sitting with Hufflepuff.
Although, he looked a bit down—probably because his house had come in last place.
"He got something wrong? What did he guess?"
Harry’s question piqued the curiosity of the nearby Gryffindors.
Even though Noah wasn’t in Gryffindor, his brilliance was well-known.
After all, he had just topped the entire school in the final exams.
"At a gathering before the exams, we were discussing which house might win the House Cup," Hermione explained. "We all thought it would be Ravenclaw, but he didn’t."
Harry frowned. "Then who did he pick?"
Hermione smiled knowingly.
"He guessed Gryffindor."
"What?! Us? Gryffindor?! That’s impossible! Why would he think that?"
"That’s just what he predicted," Hermione said with a shrug. "And he was really confident about it, too. He even said that if he was wrong, we’d get our own recommendation spot next term. Ah… I shouldn’t have said that."
Realizing she had spoken too much, Hermione pursed her lips.
The recommendation spot was incredibly valuable—at least, to her, it was.
Following Noah and joining their "Mage Alliance" had brought her huge benefits.
And that recommendation meant she could vouch for a close friend to join.
Sure, she didn’t have many friends in Gryffindor, and the recommendation wasn’t guaranteed, but at least it gave them a chance.
And it was something Dumbledore himself had approved.
Glancing around, Hermione noticed that the Gryffindors weren’t too concerned about what she had said last.
What really got their attention was Noah’s prediction.
She let out a sigh of relief.
However, Harry and Ron—who knew the situation—caught onto something more.
"Ron, do you think we should give it a shot?" Harry whispered.
"If we can actually do it? Of course! But can just the two of us pull it off?"
"Let’s try. It’s better than doing nothing, right?"
"Alright… but before that, we need to convince Hermione."
