Theo stared at the old-fashioned badge cupped in his palm, disbelief flickering in his eyes.
Luck-bearing? Even the faintest trace—nothing like the torrents contested by great sects in the old myths—but still, fortune. Among the rarest resources.
A minor cultivator who obtained a luck-touched trinket would guard it as a treasure. At the brink of death, it might tip fate towards survival; at a bottleneck, it might nudge one into opportunity. With the right forging method, folding such an item into an artefact could yield results beyond expectation.
No wonder even quasi-saints pursued fortune without rest. And now a luck-touched token from the Longbottoms lay in Theo's hands—offered as thanks when he had only nudged Neville forward. The debt felt heavy indeed.
He tucked the badge away with care.
Whether from psychology or sharpened senses, he did feel a subtle shift in the air around him.
While Theo examined the token, Neville opened the smaller, finer parcel: the Remembrall mentioned in the histories.
"My gran knows I'm forgetful," Neville said, delighted. "If I forget something, it turns red—like this…"
He cupped it. At once the glass filled with scarlet.
Neville froze; his face went pale. "What did I forget? Oh no—it doesn't tell you what I've forgotten."
Theo sighed inwardly. For Neville, the Remembrall would glow even without a slip—he had been Obliviated of the memory of Death Eaters torturing his parents before his eyes.
"Never mind the Remembrall," Theo said. "Each morning we'll run a checklist before leaving the dorm. We'll remind you about the greenhouses too. In return… lend us a hand with Herbology homework—and if Professor Sprout has spare miniature pumpkins, do bring a few back."
"Brilliant!" Neville beamed. "I've had nightmares I'd miss the greenhouse!"
In his excitement the Remembrall slipped, rolled off the Gryffindor table, and rattled away. Neville scrambled after it.
Gryffindors groaned, hands to foreheads. Theo sighed as well. Who would imagine this gentle, clumsy boy would one day swing the Sword of Gryffindor like a master?
Theo flicked his wand.
"Accio Remembrall."
At his current strength the Summoning Charm was easy—he could match even the extreme range Harry once showed in a later tournament, though such distance wasn't required now. The Remembrall halted, then floated back—
—and a hand closed around it.
Marcus Flint, Slytherin Quidditch Captain—the very one whose slur at Hermione had earned him a missing ring of teeth—grinned around newly regrown (and still whistling) incisors.
He weighed the Remembrall like a Quaffle, then mimed a Bludger throw and laughed.
"Want it back, Longbottom? Say please."
Neville glared. He remembered clearly: when Hermione had stood to shield them, Flint had cursed from behind. If not for Theo, she might have been hurt.
"I won't say please. Do you want to try losing those teeth again?"
The retort actually stunned Flint. Wasn't Longbottom the useless coward? Since when so sharp-tongued?
"You—"
Before he could spit a slur, Theo snapped his wand up and poured power into the Summoning Charm.
"Accio Remembrall!"
The trinket yanked like a Bludger on a chain. Flint's seeker-fast reflexes betrayed him; he clenched—and was dragged bodily across the polished floor.
"Beaters' stance?" Theo called, glancing at the Weasley twins.
"Gladly!" Fred and George hopped onto the table and demoed a textbook swing.
Theo mirrored the motion; his wand tapped Flint's cheek with a crack. Flint slid away on his back, stars spinning—while the Remembrall settled into Theo's hand. He passed it to Neville.
From the staff table, Lee Jordan could not help himself.
"Lovely strike from Gryffindor's Theodore Ashbourne, clearing an incoming Bludger—oh my, he's got the Quaffle too! Shoots… scores! Gryffindor leads ten–nil!"
Laughter rolled through the Hall, then applause—loudest at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. The former was obvious; the latter because Neville had been tirelessly helping in their greenhouses. To the soil-loving, warm-hearted Badgers, a lad who liked growing things was one of their own—and several older Hufflepuffs, Cedric Diggory among them, already had wands half-drawn before Theo acted.
Cedric raised both hands in salute across the Hall and mouthed:
"Lovely hit. Join the Gryffindor team!"
Theo smiled back—
—and a System line winked into view:
[Outside the Jade Void Palace, while clearing rampant beasts, you meet Huang Tianhua of the Pure Void Lineage. He praises your skill.]
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