Chapter 141

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"Wow, the carriages are moving by themselves!" Stephen commented impressed as soon as the carriages started to move.

"I thought you would have gotten used to the weirdness of the wizarding world by now," I said with a slight amused smile on my face.

"I highly doubt he'll get used to it... I've lived in the wizarding world my whole life and I still haven't gotten used to it" Terry said, also with a slight smile on his face.

"It's just that for someone who's seen a lot of cars and motorcycles, and even horse carriages, seeing a carriage that moves by itself is amazing," Stephen said, looking out the window at the other carriages.

"Well, you're right, but these particular carriages aren't moving by themselves" I started to say, and I could feel my colleagues looking at me curiously, "They're being pulled by Thestrals" I finished, with a shrug seeing some confused looks from my friends being directed at me.

"Thestrals?" Terry asked, and Anthony who was beside him started looking at the other carriages next to Stephen, trying to see the said Thestrals.

I also saw Padma taking a book out of her bag, and I struggled not to ask why she was carrying an expansion bag with books.

'Wait... I do the same too' I reminded myself, looking at the bag I always carry with me.

"What are these Thestrals like? I can't see them" Anthony said.

"Well, I guess it's good for you not to be able to see them, and the rest of you probably won't be able to see the Thestrals either, as you have to meet a requirement to see them," I explained, and I heard a sigh from the Padma, followed by a feeling of surprise and sadness.

"What requirement?" Stephen asked curiously, and everyone else looked at me wanting to know the answer.

"Well... The requirement is..."

"That only people who have seen death can see Thestrals..." Padma said, looking at a page in her book that I now realized was about magical creatures.

"Yes... Only those who have seen death can see the Thestrals," I said, and then I saw my friends look at the front of the other carriages with either surprised or fearful looks.

But then, after a second Terry's eyes widened and he turned to me with a surprised look.

My other friends looked at Terry confused, and then turned to me, and as if a lamp had been lit in their heads, they all started looking at me with wide eyes.

"Ethan… You...?" Terry started, and I just shrugged.

My friends then started looking at me with sad eyes.

'They must probably be thinking about who I saw die in front of me' I realized, 'I think they would be even more surprised if they knew that the one I saw die was myself' I thought amused, and a little sad too.

...

...

"Well... They're ugly creatures, right? Hehehe" Anthony said after looking at an illustration of a Thestral in Padma's book of magical creatures, in an attempt to change the subject, to which I gave him a grateful look.

"Heh, yeah. They look scary too" Terry commented, and with that everyone started talking about the appearance and mythos of Thestrals, deciding to drop the subject of who I saw die.

"You know, they're nothing like what others say," I commented.

"What do you mean?" Stephen asked.

"Wizards often associate Thestrals with death, bad luck, and bad omen, and it's all just because they look like that and because of the requirement to see them" I started to say, "Even Divination treats Thestrals as a bad thing, symbolizing death in your predictions"

"Well... I can understand why people think that" Padma muttered.

"But wouldn't that be judging a book by its cover?" Anthony commented, and Padma shrugged.

"If most wizards took the trouble to interact with Thestrals, they'd see how they're misjudging them," I said.

"How do you know all this?" Terry then asked.

"Well, I like to study about magical creatures, and I talk to Hagrid a lot, and I realized that the only scary thing about Thestrals is how they look, and even that can be ignored, as they are pretty when you see them up close... Well, pretty in their own way" I answered.

"Wait, have you ever come close to one?" Stephen asked me.

"Yes, I always go to the forbidden forest to play with them, and they are very smart and approachable," I replied.

"In the forbidden forest?!" Padma exclaimed, looking at me in surprise, "But isn't it dangerous there? I've heard that there are even werewolves living in the forest," she said, startled.

"Nah, the most dangerous thing there are squirrels, of course, only if you don't go too deep into the forest, because then you won't even know how you became food for another being," I replied, waving my hand casually.

"Another being? Didn't you mean another animal?" Padma asked with a wary look, and I replied with a mysterious smile.

"What did you mean by that?" she asked me, even more scared.

"Oh look, we're here" Stephen said suddenly, and just like he said, we could see through the windows the entrance to the castle.

"Well, let's go then," I said as soon as the carriage stopped, opening her door and getting out quickly, with my friends following behind.

"No, wait Ethan! What did you mean by becoming another being's food?!" and Padma followed shortly after, with me walking faster with an amused smile on her face.

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-Great Hall – Beginning of the School Year Banquet-

The walk to the Great Hall was smooth, with me chatting with my friends from the other houses I met along the way, and with Hillton, who looked at me critically as soon as he saw me, as if he were sizing me up to see if I still had an athletic body.

As soon as we sat down at the Ravenclaw table, Anthony glanced at the staff table. His eyes then widened and he turned to us.

"Look who's at the staff table! It's Gilderoy Lockhart!" Anthony whispered excitedly, shaking Terry's shoulder.

""Urgh...not again..."" Terry and I said, with me smacking my face and Terry banging his forehead on the table.

"Huh?" Anthony looked at us confused.

"Who is Gilderoy Lockhart?" Stephen then asked, causing most of the people who heard him to turn to him.

"What do you mean?! You don't know who Mr. Lockhart is?!" a third grade girl exclaimed indignantly.

"Uh, muggleborn, remember?" Stephen said pointing to himself.

"Didn't you see our bill of materials?" Mandy asked.

"No, I got lazy so I sent Michael the money and asked him to buy my materials for me"

"Wait, did you ask me to buy your materials because you were too lazy? You told me you were busy, so you wouldn't be able to buy your materials!" Michael exclaimed.

"Well...I was busy beating the new Super Mario that released this year on my new Nintendo" Stephen shrugged, and Michael looked at him through gritted teeth.

'Damn, I wish I had won this video game for Christmas' Michael thought, looking even more angrily at Stephen.

"But then you didn't read any of the books you bought?" Sue then asked.

"Err... The game was a little hard to beat" Stephen said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Ignoring the urge to ask what the hell a Nintendo was, Padma began to explain to Stephen who Lockhart was, thankfully not having the dreamy appearance of the other girls and Anthony.

And as she talked about Lockhart's accomplishments, with a few girls complementing it with some compliments and passionate sighs, I looked at Lockhart with a frown.

'Yes, Lockhart is a very good wizard.... a very good wizard at tricking others, who is also a fraud, self-centered and narcissistic, with delusions of grandeur' I thought, not saying it out loud to avoid getting killed by the hormonal girls around me. .. And by Anthony, who is too close to the silverware.

"Look, the first years are here" Lisa said to us, silencing the conversation.

And just as she said, the doors to the Great Hall were opened and Professor McGonagall entered with a group of children.

"Awn, they're so cute and small" Morag cooed, and all of us sophomores turned to look at her strangely.

"You're only a year older than them" Stephen commented.

"And you can't say they're small when they're almost your size... In fact, some are even bigger than you" Michael added, but all of this fell on Morag's deaf ears as she looked at the first years while making faces trying to get their attention.

End.

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(End AN: After some thought I have actually decided that I am going to change the Patrë-on payment currency from US Dollar to Pound Sterling.

I hope this is not bad for you new readers who intend to subscribe to my Patrë-on or for current subscribers.

Now changing the subject, I think I'll try to read another manga (even though I haven't finished One Piece yet, hehe).

Which manga do you recommend me to read that currently has an anime being released?

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!)