In the dormitory, Goyle and Crabbe were delighted when they saw the huge bag of cakes. Crabbe thanked them with a big smile, saying, "Thank you, Ethan, you're so kind!"
After saying that, he picked up a cake and put it in his mouth.
One bite, just one bite, and Crabbe's expression changed: "What kind of cake is this? Why does it taste so bad?"
Having lost to Crabbe, Goyle quickly moved the cake he had just put in his mouth away after hearing this.
"Is it really that bad?" He looked at the plain-looking cake and couldn't imagine what it tasted like.
He thought Crabbe was lying to him and was planning to eat the delicious cake all by himself, so he took a big bite.
Goyle burst into tears: "Waaah, Mom, it tastes awful!"
"Draco, do you want to try some?" Ethan Jones urged Malfoy with ill intent.
"Get away from me! I don't want to eat this stuff!" Draco dodged away.
Ethan Jones said insincerely, "Unfortunately, you lack a memory of a unique flavor."
Draco rolled his eyes: "Why aren't you eating? Don't you feel bad about missing out on a unique experience?"
Ethan Jones retorted, "If I hadn't eaten it, would I have brought it back for you?"
Draco fell silent. He realized that his roommate was full of mischief.
After all that commotion, Ethan Jones felt much better. With some time before bed, he continued to study the other offensive spells recorded in the book Advanced Spells, hoping to learn them as soon as possible and have more ways to fight his enemies.
The second week's lessons were no different from the first week:
History of Magic is still as boring as ever; Ethan Jones has turned it into a study session. Defense Against the Dark Arts is still terrible, but he's noticed that Quirrell seems to be focusing more on him.
The Charms class continued to teach theory, while the Transfiguration class remained as fun as ever.
As the new week began, Hermione, after a night's rest, had probably sorted out some of her inner thoughts and wasn't so angry anymore.
She began to speak to Ethan Jones, but he could tell that Hermione hadn't actually let go of her views on the Dark Arts; she just kept them buried deep inside and didn't express them.
Ethan Jones stopped casting the Incendio spell in front of Hermione to avoid upsetting her again. After that, he practiced it secretly by himself at night, either by the Black Lake or in other secluded places.
After a busy Tuesday, he went to Hagrid's again and brought back two exquisitely crafted, light-colored wooden bookshelves, giving one to Hermione at dinner.
"I had Hagrid make this bookshelf for me. I thought you might need one for your desk too." Ethan Jones smiled as he presented the gift to Hermione, who seemed quite pleased with it.
She looked at it with great delight, wishing she could go back to her dorm and put it there right away: "Thank you, I really need this gift, my desk is already overflowing with books!"
"Hehe, I knew you'd need it." Ethan Jones was also happy, feeling that his efforts hadn't been in vain. Moreover, this further resolved the conflict between the two, allowing their relationship to slowly return to what it was before the debate on Sunday.
Friday's Potions class was the same as always. Snape targeted Harry, constantly scolding him, but surprisingly, he was very kind to Harry, constantly pointing out practical tips that weren't taught in the books.
"Holy crap, what's wrong with Snape? This is giving me the creeps." Ethan Jones didn't think this was a good thing, because every time Snape looked at him, it felt like he was looking at a dying man, his eyes full of pity.
Yes, pity. He actually saw pity in Snape's empty, indifferent eyes again!
After he told Hermione about it, Hermione thought he was overthinking it and comforted him, saying:
"Don't overthink it. Maybe you're just benefiting from Malfoy's connections? Snape seems to have some kind of relationship with him. The two of you have always been paired together. Is that why Snape hasn't bothered you?"
"Maybe." He knew things weren't as simple as Hermione had made them out to be, but he didn't have any evidence, so he could only leave it at that for now and investigate further later.
After finishing this week's classes, Hagrid received good news—the portable fire bottle had been purchased.
"What! Gringotts has been robbed?! I still have five thousand Galleons in the vault!" Ethan Jones saw the newspaper that had been cut out and was already a few days old.
"Ah, it's nothing. It was just an empty vault that was robbed. There was nothing inside." Hagrid had clearly forgotten to burn the newspaper, and his eyes darted around.
"That won't do either. I have to settle accounts with those Goblins. They said Gringotts was the safest place, but they still got robbed. Hagrid, I'm taking this little piece of newspaper. I'll keep it to confront them." He waved the slightly stained newspaper in his hand.
"Okay." Hagrid hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed.
He was more concerned about Little Black's condition than about the newspaper.
"Take good care of it. When it has babies, don't forget to give me one too." Hagrid reluctantly handed the little black salamander, which had clearly grown much larger, to Ethan Jones.
"Don't worry, once Little Black has offspring, I'll give you one as soon as possible!" Ethan Jones patted his chest and assured him, accepting the salamander that had grown about three centimeters in just one week.
He has already figured out how to raise them.
After returning to the dormitory, I set up the metal mesh, propped up the stand, placed the fire bottle below, turned on the switch, and the flame immediately passed through the metal mesh and rose above.
Place the black salamander on a large net so that it can not only lie there freely and eat the flames, but also have space to move around.
"Perfect!" His hand went straight through the flames and touched Little Black's warm body.
Just then, Draco entered and witnessed this scene. He covered his mouth, unable to believe his eyes.
He stared at it for a moment, then exclaimed in disbelief, "You! You just passed through the flames!"
"Isn't this normal?" Ethan Jones thought to himself with a sense of satisfaction, but on the surface he remained calm and composed, putting on a good show.
"Really?" Draco suspected he was showing off, but he had no proof.
He then turned his gaze to the charcoal-like creature: "What is this? Speaking of which, where did the salamander that Professor Kettleburn gave you go?"
"Here it is." Ethan Jones gestured with his lips.
"Huh? Don't lie to me, salamanders aren't black."
"Don't believe me if you don't want to." Ethan Jones didn't explain further and continued to enjoy the pleasure of having a pet in his dorm room.