Hogwarts Card System Chapter 117

Chapter 117: [Precognition (Blue)], [Celebrity (Green)]

The Daily Prophet, the best-selling newspaper in the British wizarding world, featured a large, moving photo on its front page, taking up half the space.

On the left was the hulking, terrifying bear-goblin, with a few other goblins visible behind it, and two fallen merfolk on the ground.

On the right were Mr. Weasley and a few other wizards at the forefront, with Ted and a group of people behind them.

It turned out to be the same photographer who had taken pictures of Lockhart; he hadn’t run after the incident but had hidden to capture material.

You have to admit, he had professional qualities; the angle and composition of the candid shots were excellent.

It was a pity they were black and white; if they were in color, he might have won an award.

It was already the 90s, and they were still using black and white photos. It just goes to show how backward the wizarding world was!

The entire emergency special edition was about the monster attack on Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley that morning.

It was claimed that the monsters emerged from Knockturn Alley, and it was initially determined that a dark wizard’s smuggling of magical creatures had caused it. Aurors were now investigating.

All escaped monsters had been dealt with.

In the entire incident, there were seven casualties: four dead, including a goblin, and three injured.

The most severely injured person had both legs broken and almost died.

The least injured person had their head smashed but recovered in ten minutes at the hospital.

In addition, the two most prosperous magical shopping streets in Britain were damaged, and many shops suffered varying degrees of loss.

The biggest loss was Borgin and Burkes, where a monster took advantage of the chaos to start a fire. Fortunately, the damage was not extensive, as the shop had dense magical protections. However, it was unavoidable that it would be charred and blackened by smoke.

This was truly a major event!

Although in the wizarding world, wizards often courted death and then died, for example, due to uncontrolled spells.

From then on, they would become a joke among wizards, one that could be told for years.

But for three wizards and a goblin to die at once like this was quite a shock.

This was one ten-thousandth of the population of magical Britain!

Although only a few hours had passed, the newspaper’s discussion of the matter was insane.

A large group of people criticized the Ministry of Magic, saying they were useless, taking taxpayers’ money without doing their job.

There were also radical pure-blood wizards calling for stricter control over visitors from other worlds.

Some also called for severe punishment of the perpetrators and a cleanup of Knockturn Alley’s dark industries.

Of course, a small number of people said it was thanks to Mr. Weasley and his group…

Consider that the wizarding world was usually calm, with no major disturbances. Ted’s Salty Fish Net could attract twenty to thirty people daily to drink tea, crack melon seeds, and watch the fun.

Now, suddenly, such a big event had occurred, it was a bamboo shoot explosion!

Since Voldemort’s defeat, Diagon Alley hadn’t had any incidents for over a decade. Now it was attacked by a group of monsters?!

Ted read from beginning to end, from the newspaper reports to the Ministry of Magic officials’ statements, to the opinions of wizards invited to comment or who wrote in directly. He read it all.

It was good; his name was only mentioned once, and he was praised a few times along with everyone else.

Although there were two lines of text that said Ted’s “modified special Freezing Charm worked very well,” there was nothing more.

This was excellent, to avoid attracting too much attention.

Ted felt his decision was indeed correct.

In the afternoon, he took Hermione home, and Jerry also went home.

School was about to start, and the Salty Fish Net was originally going to be temporarily closed for these last few days. Moreover, with such an incident, Diagon Alley was deserted.

The Leaky Cauldron was also very quiet; who would come to drink now?

Old Tom wasn’t annoyed by this; he had lived for decades and seen all sorts of storms; they were all temporary.

Ted returned to his room and collapsed onto the bed.

“Good job, Parker,” he praised Parker, his spirit crystal servant. Freezing the bear-goblin earlier was thanks to Parker’s assistance.

“My pleasure~” Parker excitedly jumped around on the table.

“And Anzu, that fire was satisfying. Fire and water are merciless; I hope Mr. Borgin & Burkes pays more attention in the future.”

Ted took out some beef jerky to distract Anzu, as Anzu wanted to peck Parker a couple of times whenever Parker moved around proudly. Ravens were very interested in shiny things.

Ted lay on his bed and began to examine the two new cards he had acquired.

[Precognition (Blue)]

Spell Card

After use, your spiritual energy will be exceptionally active for 10 minutes, allowing you to react in advance to sneak attacks and unexpected events with a high probability.

Cooldown: 6 hours.

This card was interesting; it was a card related to spiritual energy, quite rare!

Ted tried using it, then closed his eyes, picked up an apple, and tossed it above his head… As the apple fell towards his head, he suddenly dodged, avoiding it without sight and catching the apple with his hand.

“This feeling is quite marvelous!”

Ted was overjoyed, not only because the card’s effect was good but also because he could simulate this spiritual energy card to develop similar psychic abilities.

Then he wouldn’t be limited by the cards~

The second card:

[Celebrity (Green)]

Spell Card

Use: + 2 Charisma, lasts for 30 minutes.

Cooldown: 12 hours.

Note: Being watched everywhere you go, life in the spotlight isn’t that easy~

“Did I become a celebrity just by appearing in the newspaper once?” Ted found it a bit funny.

In fact, on this point, he was truly mistaken.

After all, when Ted transmigrated, it was already the internet era. Newspapers, not to mention being extinct, were barely read, and their influence was extremely low.

In this world, however, newspapers still had some influence. Although a large part of it had been taken by television and radio, many people still read them. Britons were famously fond of reading newspapers.

And the wizarding world only had print media. Mainstream newspapers like The Daily Prophet were subscribed to by almost every household.

The wizarding population was small, unable to support many newspapers, so one dominated.

Many wizards were scattered across the country. To get the latest changes and information in the wizarding world, they truly couldn’t do without The Daily Prophet.

So, Ted’s name was actually known to eighty or ninety percent of wizards in Great Britain. Although not all of them might remember it, it was still quite remarkable.

…

In the days following the “monster siege,” Diagon Alley was put under strict security.

Ted saw four or five wizards with serious expressions, wary eyes, and hands ready to draw their wands patrolling Diagon Alley.

These were from the Ministry of Magic’s enforcement departments—Hit-Wizards and Aurors.

Hit-Wizards were roughly equivalent to civilian police, while Aurors were more like military police.

Most of these individuals were between levels 7 and 9, higher than average wizards.

Some individual elites even reached levels 11 or 12. These were considered elite Aurors.

This was mainly because Aurors and Hit-Wizards received specialized training and learned many offensive and defensive spells.

Now that the Ministry of Magic had been embarrassed, they sent people to patrol the streets.

During this period, Knockturn Alley underwent a special crackdown on dark activities, and many gray-area wizards who made a living there were arrested. However, their sentences usually only meant a few months to a year or two in Azkaban.

Ted couldn’t miss such a good opportunity either. He secretly controlled Parker to create many disguised traces at the entrance of Borgin and Burkes, leading to Borgin and Burkes being sealed off.

Although with their connections and influence, they would be able to reopen soon, it would definitely be very troublesome during this period.

Ah~ so satisfying!

However, Ted wasn’t paying much attention to Diagon Alley anymore, as school was about to start.

He had to quickly pack his things, especially clearing out the basement.

After more than two months, it had become a laboratory. Many things had to be dealt with, and traces had to be restored.

Waste from alchemy experiments and potion brewing had to be properly disposed of.

Places where wizards lived could easily “breed” certain magical entities. Things like Boggarts, ghoul, or Fwoopers.

Because they were born from magic, the presence of wizards would condense magical energy.

So these things always appeared in places where wizards lived.

If Ted didn’t handle it properly, it might become a “haunted pub” after a while.

…

Ted opened his eyes, and the system notification arrived.

Indeed, today was September 1st, the first day of school, and also when new otherworldly knowledge refreshed.

“Ding~ Talent [Otherworldly Knowledge (Gold)] triggered, discovered [Flame Village Cat Food Recipe Compendium (Green)].”

[Flame Village Cat Food Recipe Compendium (Green)], records the cooking recipes for cat food made by the Felynes of Flame Village. Requires 190 experience to redeem.

“Huh? Cat food!” Ted was startled, recalling the fear of being dominated by the “cat cart.”

“No way… my luck is average!” Ted shook his head.

It was still alright, at least it was somewhat useful.

Eating it would give buffs, wouldn’t that just combine with Azerothian cooking?

He redeemed it. He would properly research it in the school kitchen after school started.

Hmm, maybe Professor McGonagall would like it~

Ted’s luggage, shrunk to fist-size with the newly learned “Shrinking Charm,” was stuffed into his pants pocket.

He took Anzu and Parker, said goodbye to Old Tom, and took a taxi to the train station.

This time, Ted arrived relatively early. When he passed through the wall to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, there weren’t many people.

Ted got on the train directly and claimed a compartment.

About forty to fifty minutes later, Hermione arrived at the station.

Watching Hermione gleefully and smilingly push her luggage cart, eagerly rushing off, her old father, Mr. Granger, couldn’t help but feel a little misty-eyed. His little cotton jacket wasn’t sticking close anymore~

(End of this chapter)