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Chapter 1479: The Boat of Friendship
🕑 Added 2025-05-21 21:41:02 +0000 UTCAlthough the image of the Prince had collapsed in Harry's heart and was quite different from what he had imagined, Harry still felt he should trust him. After all, it wasn't the Prince who told him to use that spell. This kind of trust was innate, and Harry couldn't explain it.
He would be more cautious when reading this book next time.
But handing in the book, what a joke, he never had such an idea from beginning to end.
"Wait, Harry, are you telling me,” said Hermione, “that you’re going to go back — ?"
“And get the book? Yeah, I am,” said Harry forcefully. "Listen, Hermione, I know what you’re worried about, but without the Prince I’d never have won the Felix Felicis. I’d never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I’d never have —"
“— got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don’t deserve,” said Hermione nastily. "You’re..."
“Give it a rest, Hermione!” said Ginny suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her in surprise. She was speaking for Harry. “By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"
“Well, of course I’m glad Harry wasn’t cursed!” said Hermione, clearly stung. She obviously couldn’t believe Ginny was siding with Harry at a time like this. “But you can’t call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny. Even Evan says it’s Dark Magic. Look where it’s landed Harry! And I’d have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match —"
“Oh, don’t start acting as though you understand Quidditch,” snapped Ginny, “you’ll only embarrass yourself."
The atmosphere at the table suddenly became very awkward. Hermione and Ginny, who had always got on together very well, were now sitting with their arms folded, glaring in opposite directions. Fortunately, there was an innocent-looking Elaine between them, otherwise the atmosphere would have been even more awkward.
Based on what Evan knew about Hermione, she must be extremely aggrieved now...
Ginny really was… well, siding with Harry!
She and Hermione were close friends, but when it came to Harry, that apparently didn’t matter much.
Perhaps, this was the difference between a good friend and the boy you liked...
At that moment, Evan felt he should comfort Hermione, step forward and support her.
Ron looked at him nervously, sensing a whiff of tension in the air, and then snatched up a book at random and hid behind it; Harry, however, felt unbelievably cheerful all of a sudden. He looked at Ginny with joy; her support had lifted his previously gloomy spirits.
"Harry, I understand how you feel," Evan said carefully, "but I think Hermione has a point."
"You want me to hand over the book too? Is that it?" Harry asked, "Don't forget, Evan, you’ve got a copy of the book. You’ve read it too."
"I haven't forgotten. It’s because I’ve read it that I know how dangerous it is. It’s far more dangerous than you think. The original owner of the book, the Half-Blood Prince, is not only good at potions, but obviously has a great interest in Dark Magic. The book contains a lot of similar magical experiments," said Evan, feeling the obvious hostility in Harry's tone. "As for the copy, I’ve destroyed it. And I think you should also —"
“I’ll be more careful when using the spells in it,” said Harry firmly, raising his voice, “but I’ll say this one last time—I’m not handing it over. Ginny was right just now … should I just have waited for Malfoy to hit me with an Unforgivable Curse and not fight back?!"
"Neither Hermione nor I meant that, but the situation now is that Snape will never give up until the book is found. If he asks you about the Prince again, I think you'd better tell the truth, instead of..."
“That’s enough, Evan, stop talking!” Hermione snapped, slamming her hand on the table and standing up. “Elaine, time to revise. Let’s go! According to our schedule, you’re supposed to finish that section on Medieval Magic History tonight."
“Ah!” Elaine was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events and said innocently, “I just spent the whole evening studying with Evan, I —"
Her protest was useless. Hermione dragged her off without another word.
Poor Elaine. History of Medieval Magic had over three thousand pages; not including all the supplemental readings Hermione had added.
If she was expected to finish all of that tonight, she could forget about sleeping!
Judging by Hermione’s expression, she clearly wasn’t planning to let either Elaine or Evan get any rest tonight!
Evan stood and followed after them. Before leaving, he glanced back one last time.
Ginny was whispering something to Harry, and Ron had joined them as well.
Evan wasn’t sure if Harry had taken any of his words to heart — probably not. But it didn’t really matter. Now that Snape knew Harry could use Sectumsempra, things were bound to change. There was no way that lie would hold up against the Prince himself.
Although Harry felt bad about the conflict with Evan and Hermione, he was still in a good mood because of Ginny's support.
If Ron had just left together and left him and Ginny alone, it would have been even better!
But Ron didn't have this awareness. After expressing his support, he began to discuss Sectumsempra with Harry.
Then, the topic turned to the upcoming Quidditch game, and there were many tactical arrangements to talk about.
Tonight could have been the perfect chance to confess his feelings, but instead, Harry ended up spending the whole evening talking about Quidditch with Ginny...
It was a really strange feeling, but still, Harry was, overall, quite content.
His lightheartedness was short-lived. There were Slytherin taunts to be endured next day, not to mention much anger from fellow Gryffindors, who were most unhappy that their Captain had got himself banned from the final and most important match of the season.
By Saturday morning, whatever he might have told Hermione, who was still angry, Harry would have gladly exchanged all the Felix Felicis in the world to be walking down to the Quidditch pitch with Ron, Ginny, Elaine, and the others. This punishment was simply unbearable.
Hermione and Ginny didn’t seem to have made up, and naturally, neither of them had forgiven Harry.
That night, as expected, Evan was dragged into a long conversation with Hermione.
Elaine was even worse, and finally fell asleep on the thick A History of Magic book...
Despite this, on Saturday, they still went to watch the Quidditch game without Harry.
This seemed to have become a normal situation. Harry always seemed to miss the most important games for one reason or another.
Fortunately, Ginny was able to step in and lead the team. But at times, due to her inexperience, her decisions weren’t always the most accurate.
Ravenclaw, known for its ever-changing tactics and complex plays, made this match exceptionally difficult.
It would have been better if Harry had been there, but at this time, he had to turn away from the mass of students streaming out into the sunshine, all of them wearing rosettes and hats and brandishing banners and scarves, to descend the stone steps into the dungeons and walk until the distant sounds of the crowd were quite obliterated, knowing that he would not be able to hear a word of commentary or a cheer or groan. ...
