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Chapter 178: Consecutive defeats

"Professor, I understand." Harry said with a quick nod, "Sorry for the delay in your lecture, you may continue on."

He urged Dracula to continue his lecture without a trace, thinking in his heart that maybe Professor Dracula would forget his punishment for walking out of class after lecturing for a little while?

However, he failed to realize that the admittedly careful Professor Dracula obviously wouldn't just forget his punishment for not paying attention in class.

"Potter, you don't seem to be in a very good state of listening to class these past two months." Dracula suddenly thought of some interesting punishments and said to Harry with a smirk, "I'm curious what interesting things have been happening lately, want to share them?"

Harry immediately shook his head no.

His secret had always been hidden in the deepest recesses of his heart, he hadn't even told his best friends Ron and Hermione, so how could he possibly be willing to tell his classmates from both houses about it?

"Don't want to talk about it do you, I won't force you." Dracula nodded casually.

'When did Professor Dracula become so nice?'

Harry froze for a moment.

Dracula's next paragraph, however, brought Harry's perception of him back again.

"The punishment for walking out of class still needs to be there, if each and every one of you don't pay attention because you're walking out of class, then where will I put my face?" Dracula said carelessly, "I'm going to give you two options below, you can choose either one as your punishment."

"The first: your written assignments for the semester, as well as practical assignments outside of the course, are quadrupled through and through!"

Harry gulped.

Normally Professor Dracula didn't assign much written work, so doubling written assignments wasn't much of a challenge, and this doubling was the least of the punishments, even if it was quadrupling.

It wasn't this that gave Harry a headache, it was that one practical assignment-

Practical assignments, as the name suggests, were assignments that had to be practiced in order to be completed, and used in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, they were assignments that required fighting.

Now that Hogwarts had a dueling club hosted by Dracula, many of the practical assignments were hooked up with the arrangements of the dueling club.

There were times when Dracula would have students complete practical assignments in the dueling club for their Black Magic Defense class, for example:

Using only a specific spell during a duel, or successfully defending against an opponent's attack during a duel, or dodging a certain number of attacks with flexible positioning ...

Practical assignments such as these were usually not too difficult to complete every day at the dueling club as long as you paid more attention, so few people would complain about them.

However, when quadrupled, things would look very different ... That is to say, Harry would have to fight four duels in the dueling club every time he wanted to complete his homework, and each of them also had special restrictions!

"What about the second option?" He was still holding out for a chance.

"The second option well ... would be to share in front of your classmates the reason why you've been in such a poor state of listening lately." Dracula slowly hooked up the corner of his mouth, "Remember not to make up blind stories out to lake us, I know very well whether you are telling the truth or not."

"I'll take the first option!" Harry said decisively.

If he had to say something so embarrassing in front of his classmates, it would be a social death, right?

It would be embarrassing ...

"Are you sure?" Dracula's smile flattened a bit.

"I'm sure!" Harry didn't hesitate.

"Alright then." Dracula smacked his lips a little regretfully, "I'll arrange the dueling matches for you tonight, you're not allowed to leave until you've finished all four duels!"

...

By the time he got back to his dormitory in the evening, Harry was completely exhausted.

In the dueling club high intensity with others after four duels, just after dinner did not rest for two minutes, was pulled by Wood to go to the Quidditch pitch and another wave of Quidditch training, training after the end of the Harry feel that his whole person can not ...

"Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked heartily as he looked at his nemesis who had collapsed heavily onto the bed, "Wood is really something too, you're exhausted like this and he's still asking you to attend Quidditch practice!"

Harry didn't want to move a single finger and grunted as he lay on the bed and responded, "I'm feeling pretty good ... I can't die at least for now."

"Well give it a rest then, hopefully you'll still be as optimistic as you are today when you're all sore tomorrow." Ron looked at him with a face full of sympathy, "Say, how many days did Professor Dracula say that quadrupling your practical work would last?"

"How many days?" Harry wailed in pain as he covered his face with a pillow, "Didn't you hear that in class? Professor Dracula said a semester!"

"A whole semester?!" Ron jumped up from the bed, "Professor Dracula really dares to say that too ah ... Does he want Hogwarts to have the first student who died of exhaustion because of doing the practical work on Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"And what does Professor Dracula care if I die of exhaustion?" Harry bemoaned, "He just wants to have his fun and I'm not giving him a chance to have mine ..."

"Well ... that's true when you think about it." Compassion surfaced in Ron's eyes, "I'm sorry for your loss then ..."

Just then, a weak knock came from outside the dormitory door.

"Who is it?" Ron shouted to the door, "No need to knock, just come right in!"

After shouting he spat at Harry, "I've told everyone else so many times, just push the door in when you come to our dormitory, there's no need to knock, and I don't know who hasn't remembered."

Harry didn't have the strength to reply and could only casually lift his finger.

It was then that Ron's yell tickled Harry's attention.

"Ginny?!" Ron's voice was thick with surprise, "You're not supposed to be here, this is the boys' dormitory!"

Harry struggled to lift his head from the bed to see a little witch with a basket standing playfully next to the dormitory door that had been pushed open.

The little witch, like her older brother, had fire-like red hair and cute little freckles on her face. She was petite and had the same bright brown eyes as Mrs. Molly Weasley.

Ginny was the youngest child in the Weasley household, and likewise the most favored one, getting far more affection than Ron, the youngest boy in the family who was bullied by his older siblings and neglected by his parents ...

Well, maybe even Harry, the outsider, was more favored than Ron in the Weasley household.

"Hermione told me that Gryffindor girls are allowed in the boys' dormitories." Ginny seemed a little nervous about coming to the boys' dormitory for the first time, but forced herself to show a calm expression, "So I had the nerve to come over and try it out."

"Speaking of which, I've been pretty pissed off!" Ron said sullenly, "I don't know who made the rule that girls can enter the boys' dormitory, but boys can't enter the girls' dormitory. It's not fair!"

"It's because the founders of Gryffindor thought that boys were less trustworthy than girls, so they made that rule." Ginny said, modeling Hermione's tone of voice as she carried her basket into the dormitory.

"The founder of Gryffindor, Mr. Godric Gryffindor, is a man himself, and the fact that even he thinks this way is proof of how untrustworthy you boys are!"

With that said, Harry felt he couldn't play dead any longer and sat up and leaned against the head of the bed so that he looked somewhat decently seated so that he wouldn't lose face in front of the girls.

"Ginny, did Gryffindor really say that?" Harry asked, "I always thought it was a bit unreasonable to make rules like that, after all, you know ... I'm a boy too."

"Ah, Harry, I didn't mean to say you weren't trustworthy." Ginny's face turned red as if she had just seen Harry, "Even if the other guys suck, you're the most trustworthy one!"

"Ginny, why don't you comment on your older brother as well?" Ron eyed Ginny's over-evaluation of Harry and was very confident in trying to get an equal evaluation from his sister as well.

"You?" Ginny slanted a glance at Ron, "Why don't you have any self-awareness, Ron?"

"Huh?" Ron's eyes widened, "What do you mean by that, Ginny? Why is Harry trustworthy but I'm the one with no self-awareness, who's your brother anyway?"

Ginny didn't pay any more attention and turned her back directly to him, blushing as she looked at Harry.

"Harry, I heard that you had four duels with other people and went back to Quidditch training at the end of them, right?" She asked in a small voice.

"Uh, yeah." Harry was a little confused as to what Ginny meant by all of this, "What did you want to see me about, Ginny?"

"Nothing important really ..." Ginny's face turned even redder, almost catching the color of her own hair, "It's just that ... I'm guessing that you've gone through such a heavy workout, you must be pretty drained right now and probably need some food for energy."

"I just happened to run into Luna at the stairway to the basement level, she was with Rolf Scamander from Hufflepuff, and stopped by to pay Toskamander a favor to go to the kitchen and whip up an extra portion of food."

Harry then realized what was in the basket Ginny had been carrying when she came in and subconsciously looked towards it.

He saw that the top of the basket was covered by a thick layer of cotton cloth that was supposed to be used to preserve the heat of the food. The cotton cloth was raised outwards, and one could tell that it should be filled with food, making the basket look heavy and upside down.

"I brought milk, eggs, cheese, and fresh fruit, which are perfect for replenishment after a strenuous workout."

Ginny reached down and unwrapped the cotton cloth covering the basket, gripping the basket's carrying handles with both hands and handing it to Harry, "Harry, can you see if it's your favorite food? If you don't like it I can go back bye Toskamand to the kitchen and get some others."

Ginny looked into Harry's turquoise eyes with a slightly afflicted expression on her face.

"Oh..! That's too much trouble, Ginny!" Harry couldn't care less about how tired he was, he stood up in a hurry and said, "Thank you so much really, it's all my favorite ..."

He took the basket full of food from Ginny's hand and was slightly surprised that all of this food in the basket just happened to be his favorites.

Harry looked over at Ginny, but realized that her face didn't seem quite right, "Huh, why is your face so red, do you have a fever?"

"I ... I'm fine." Ginny retracted her hand from the basket's carrying handle with an electric shock, her face was now redder than her flaming red hair.

Harry then noticed that in order to take the basket, he had likewise held his hand on the basket's carrier and inadvertently touched it with Ginny's.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to." He apologized in a hurry.

Ginny's cheeks burned as if she had blushed so much that she couldn't speak, and she just shook her head vigorously.

Her long fiery red hair whipped up behind her like a clump of brightly colored spring flowers.

"Hey Ginny, why are you just bringing Harry food." Ron came over and gave Ginny a somewhat suspicious look, holding out his hand and asking, "Where's mine?"

"You didn't play four duels in one day or train for Quidditch, so why would I bring you food?" Ginny glanced at Ron, "And don't you usually eat enough, I don't want an obese brother."

The undercurrent of her being the Weasley family's group pet instantly returned when she spoke to her older brother.

"Walter F..." Ron's expletive almost came out of his mouth, but finally swallowed it back at Ginny's 'I'm going to tell mommy' look. "After I can beat Fred and George, I'm going to make them look good!"

"It's all because those two make fun of me all day long, and I can't believe they've brought you down!" He cursed.

"Don't worry, you'll never be able to beat Fred and George in your life," Ginny's words were like a knife in Ron's shoulder, "We don't have any wizards in our family who are more gifted in fighting than these two."

Ron: "..."

After Ginny left, Harry, Ron, and the other three roommates sat down for a late night snack.

There was so much and hearty food in the basket that it was impossible for one person to eat it all, so even though Ginny wasn't going to bring the food to her brother, Ron dabbled in the meal along with the other roommates.

"Ginny has been a particular admirer of yours since she was a little girl, Harry ... Well, actually there are very few young wizards in the wizarding world who don't admire you." Ron, who had a mouth full of cheese, mumbled to Harry, "We all grew up on stories of boys in great distress."

"But Ginny's a bit different, the rest of us gradually turn our childhood admiration into friendship after meeting you, you know what I mean?" He managed to swallow the contents of his mouth and continued.

Harry nodded.

"But unlike us, instead of seeing you as a friend like we did when Ginny grew up and met you, she began to worship you more and more." Ron said, "My mom told us that Ginny has been talking about you all year since she met you at King's Cross Station last year."

"But ... but I don't deserve to be worshipped like that." Harry put down the fork he was poking at the chunks of banana in his hand and said, somewhat bewildered, "I don't even know how Voldemort was defeated by me at the time ..."

Ignoring the horrified expressions of his four roommates when they heard Voldemort's name, he continued, "I'm just a perfectly ordinary little wizard who couldn't even win a simple Quidditch match, how do I deserve to be worshipped by Ginny like that?"

"Don't say that Harry, you're number one in Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Neville didn't quite feel like eating what Ginny had brought for Harry, taking a small piece of apple and nibbling halfway through it, "That alone is way beyond me, I've always been envious."

Harry didn't respond, just cried and shook his head.

No one else knew about the whole Riddle's journal thing, but that didn't mean Harry himself couldn't recognize himself.

He'd always thought that he'd gotten first place in his Defense Against the Dark Arts final exam last year all because of Riddle's tutoring, or else Professor Dracula had made the Patronus how it should have been Hermione's.

"Harry, you'll be fine, you're the soul of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!" Ron said as his mouth filled up again, patting Harry on the shoulder as he chewed, "You were just in bad shape last game, just win the next one back!"

All the young wizards were confident in Harry, after all he was the youngest ball finder in the history of Hogwarts!

...

But things didn't go as well as the other young wizards expected.

Even as Harry gradually adjusted over the rest of the semester, he lost his next Quidditch match.

Harry had actually anticipated this event himself, and that was because, the match was between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

Autumn Chang, as the ball finder for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, had held all of Harry's thoughts from the very beginning of the match.

Because of this, the youngest ball finder in the history of Hogwarts on the Gryffindor team, every now and then during the course of the match, he would look over to where the opposite ball finder was located-

Not to observe the opponent's movements, nor to prevent the Golden Flyer from appearing in the vicinity of the opposite ball finder and being caught, but simply to be able to take a look at Autumn Chang's beautiful face.

Throughout the match, instead of Harry as the ball finder looking for the Golden Flying Thief, it was more like he was looking for Autumn Chang's figure ...

With such a lack of focus, Harry actually still had a chance to help Gryffindor win the match.

Because he was overly concerned about Ravenclaw's ball finder, even though he never seriously searched for the Golden Flying Thief, he still reacted in an instant and drove his broom to chase after him the moment Autumn-Zhang spotted the Golden Flying Thief.

Autumn-Chang wasn't a fast flyer, and with Harry chasing after her, she soon caught up and flew to a shoulder-to-shoulder position with her.

Harry, however, hesitated.