After a night of noise and excitement, Link's first Halloween at Hogwarts had finally come to an end.
Although there were some awkward moments, overall, Link was still quite satisfied. After all, the matter of the Basilisk hadn't been exposed, and Hermione was safe.
What gave Link a headache, however, was that his reputation as the "Troll Killer" had already gone viral after just one night.
Yes, you read that right, it went viral, broke out of the Hogwarts circle.
A wizard tabloid from Ireland reported in detail on Link's deeds last night, praising endlessly his selfless rescue of a classmate and his independent development of a new spell. The article even used the nickname given to Link by George and Fred as the title of the whole piece, "Troll Killer Link!".
This made Link become a hot topic not just at Hogwarts, but also in some wizard circles in Ireland.
And along with the nickname "Troll Killer Link" spreading, the prank spell "Bladder Explosion Spell" also became popular.
This was a very normal thing. Because people always prefer new spells over old ones, especially students.
In fact, every era has its own trending prank spells. For example, a dozen years ago, Hogwarts had a trending prank spell called "Dangling Golden Bell," which could make the target hang upside down in the air.
Of course, that spell is no longer popular. After all, hanging someone upside down is boring compared to making someone tap dance or grow large buck teeth.
According to initial statistics, just on Halloween night alone, there were no fewer than 50 bed-wetting incidents at Hogwarts. The house-elves who helped clean the sheets noticed something strange and reported it to Madam Pomfrey, who was so shocked that she thought a new type of bed-wetting infectious disease had broken out in Hogwarts.
Don't laugh, Madam Pomfrey has over 20 years of clinical experience and has seen even stranger illnesses.
Of course, there was no such infectious disease. The reason for the bed-wetting was simply that students who had learned the Bladder Explosion Spell couldn't wait to test it on their roommates while they were asleep.
Such terrible behavior naturally brought very strict punishment.
But those rebellious ones who dared to experiment with new spells on their roommates clearly didn't care about detentions or point deductions.
Even after the heads of each House announced the punishments, they didn't restrain themselves at all, instead, they became even more bold.
And the boldest among them were George and Fred, the Weasley twins.
They used the Bladder Explosion Spell to ambush Snape.
This was absolutely a heroic act. Although they failed and ended up losing 50 points each and were given a month of detention by Snape alone, this didn't stop them from becoming heroes of Gryffindor.
At the same time, their "crazy" actions made their reputation as Hogwarts' strongest prank duo spread across the whole school.
According to unreliable sources, they are secretly gathering supporters to prepare for another ambush attack on Snape.
Without a doubt, the Weasley twins were having a great time.
But their fun had nothing to do with Link. In fact, these past few days, Link had been living like a rat crossing the street, chased daily by a large group of fans wanting him to retell the story of the "troll who didn't play fair."
Honestly, it wasn't that Link disliked being the center of attention. It's just that… the title "Troll Killer" was just too cringey.
Still, the Troll Killer incident had its upsides. At the very least, Link's relationship with the Hufflepuffs had greatly improved.
After all, Link had brought great honor to Hufflepuff and had acted heroically to save a classmate, definitely not the kind of thing a Death Eater would do.
Both Cedric and Professor Sprout expressed their great relief about this.
But even so, Link still couldn't feel happy, because in this kind of situation, he couldn't appear in any public places, especially the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, had even blacklisted him because his every appearance caused a commotion.
Luckily, the enthusiasm of the students came fast, and faded just as quickly.
Shortly after entering November, the hype around the Troll incident had cooled down.
Link finally got to enter the library over the weekend. Because it was the weekend and the upper-year students had all gone to Hogsmeade to shop, the library felt quite empty at this time, with only Hermione and a few other students still diligently studying.
Seeing this, Link didn't greet Hermione either. Under Madam Pince's watchful gaze, he quickly picked out some books and eagerly sat down at a window seat.
Classes at Hogwarts hadn't stopped during this time. Even though Cedric and Professor McGonagall gave him extra help, Link had still built up quite a number of problems he needed to study on his own.
Additionally, inspired by the Bladder Explosion Spell and the Human Explosion Curse, Link also had some new ideas about traditional prank spells like "Big Buck Teeth."
Since the Human Explosion Curse could be toned down into a prank spell like the Bladder Explosion Spell, could other prank spells be developed upwards into more damaging spells?
For example, the effect of "Big Buck Teeth" is to make someone grow large buck teeth, but these teeth stop growing once they reach a certain length.
So, what if Link made them keep growing without stopping? What would happen? Would the buck teeth pierce the jaw? Or even stab into the brain?
And what about the spell that causes pimples to grow on someone's face? What if Link could make those pimples appear inside the target's organs or even brain? Wouldn't that become tumors?
With some modification, it might even become malignant tumors.
And besides these prank spell upgrade experiments, Link had discovered a very troubling problem after the battle with the troll.
That is, his combat spells only consisted of the Human Explosion Curse and other prank spells, this was far too limited.
You should know, wizard duels can be very complex. In Link's opinion, a strong combat-oriented wizard should at least master four types of abilities. Offense, perception, mobility, and defense.
But for now, Link had only mastered offense. And the Human Explosion Curse, his ace attack, didn't even perform that well against the troll's magic-resistant skin.
If he were to face a dragon or a giant with stronger magic resistance, or a wizard like Snape who had defensive spells, then Link would definitely be finished.
'The road ahead is long and difficult.'
Link sighed in his heart, then dove headfirst into the sea of study.
And while Link was engrossed in his studies, not far away, Hermione, also buried in a pile of books, finally noticed Link's presence.
"Lin..."
Hermione instinctively wanted to call out Link's name, but when she saw how focused and serious he looked…
In the end, she closed her mouth.
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