Chapter 78: End of the Semester

The two of them chatted for a while, but Penelope seemed distracted. Suddenly, she casually asked, "Do you know why Percy Weasley invited me out back then?"

It was because of this that Penelope missed visiting the unicorn Lurue and, consequently, missed the entire incident.

Alaric shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

Penelope looked at him with complexity and said, "He confessed to me, hoping I would be his girlfriend."

"Oh," Alaric nodded. This was what happened in the original book, where Penelope agreed to the proposal, but this time she might refuse.

Seeing Alaric's lack of reaction, Penelope frowned and asked, "And what do you think I answered?"

Alaric shook his head again.

"I refused."

Penelope said. Afterward, she looked at Alaric expectantly.

"Oh."

The same response again.

Even the usually gentle Penelope was annoyed. She questioned Alaric loudly, "Is this your only reaction?"

Alaric, glancing at her, felt a bit hesitant. Although he was outstanding in this life, a beloved man that everyone adored, he had never experienced love before.

Flirting with girls was one thing, but facing such emotional issues made him somewhat timid.

Nevertheless, he had to encourage himself inwardly: 'Who am I?'

'I am a transmigrator, the chosen one, the one who knows the future. I was born to do great things, to rule. 

I can do whatever the hell I want. How could I waver over a trivial love matter?'

Finally, he mustered up his courage, approached Penelope, and abruptly pressed her against the wall.

Penelope was startled by this move but still looked at him with expectant eyes.

Facing her gaze, Alaric kissed her on the lips and said, "Let this be the start of our new relationship!"

Then he hurriedly walked away.

Watching Alaric's figure, Penelope's lips curved into a gentle smile.

After that, the final Quidditch match for the Quidditch Cup began, with Gryffindor facing off against Ravenclaw.

As Harry didn't get injured in the confrontation with Quirrell as in the original book, he smoothly participated in the match, standing against the friends he fought alongside just a few days ago.

In the previous matches, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw won two games each.

However, the Quidditch Cup winner was not the team with the most victories but the one with the highest cumulative points.

In this aspect, Ravenclaw had a significant advantage.

They accumulated a total of 510 points in the two previous matches, while Gryffindor's total score was much lower, with a difference of over 150 points.

This meant that besides catching the Golden Snitch first, Gryffindor had to score points with the Quaffle and open up a certain lead against their opponents.

However, the Ravenclaw team facing them now had the best Quidditch player, Alaric, and he also had a secret weapon—the Flying broomstick, Skyraider.

In the match, Skyraider made its debut, stunning and frightening everyone. Riding this cutting-edge broomstick, Alaric almost single-handedly defeated Gryffindor.

Unfortunately for Gryffindor, even with Harry participating in the match this time and avoiding the injury from the original book, they couldn't escape the biggest defeat in history.

As the End-of-Term Feast at Hogwarts began, the Great Hall was decorated in the blue and bronze colors of Ravenclaw to celebrate their victory in the House Cup. 

Behind the head table, a huge banner featuring the Ravenclaw eagle was hung on the wall.

Dumbledore arrived last, and after that, the noise in the Great Hall gradually subsided.

"Another year has passed!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, "Before we fully enjoy these delicious dishes, I must trouble you to listen to an old man's clichéd speech.

What a wonderful year! Your mind should be filled with new knowledge and experiences... there's a whole summer waiting for you ahead, where you can understand those things properly before the next semester begins and clear your minds..."

"Now, as far as I know, we must first conduct the House Cup award ceremony. 

The specific scores for each house are as follows: 

Fourth place, Gryffindor, with 312 points.

Third place, Hufflepuff, with 352 points.

Second place, Slytherin, with 372 points.

And Ravenclaw, with 586 points, is placed first."

A thunderous cheer and stomping erupted from the Ravenclaw table.

"Yes, yes, well done," Dumbledore said, "However, we must also consider a few recent events."

The Great Hall became very quiet, and the smiles on the faces of the Ravenclaws faded.

Alaric, however, cast a mocking look at Dumbledore—In the original book, Gryffindor's score was also this low, but due to Dumbledore's awarding 170 points for the Philosopher's Stone incident to the trio, they surpassed Slytherin, who had won the House Cup for six consecutive years. 

Some said Dumbledore, despite being a good headmaster, was quite biased—he favored the house where he was from, Gryffindor.

However, this time, Ravenclaw had Alaric and Hermione, causing them to win the House Cup and widen the gap with Gryffindor even more.

Moreover, in this Philosopher's Stone incident, both in terms of the number of participants and contributions, Ravenclaw surpassed Gryffindor. So even with extra points, Ravenclaw wasn't necessarily going to lose.

Now, he wanted to see how this biased old man would help Gryffindor.

As expected, Dumbledore did not award points based on contributions like in the original book. 

Instead, he gave 50 points to each person involved in the event and added 10 points for Neville Longbottom.

This was indeed favoritism.

Gryffindor was delighted. They surpassed their arch-rivals Slytherin. 

Snape, looking at Professor McGonagall, seemed quite embarrassed, while Professor Flitwick happily hummed a tune—he led his house with a lead of 314 points.

The next day, the results of the final exams were also announced. 

Alaric and Hermione both scored full marks, but everyone knew that the reason Hermione was able to tie with Alaric was because the total score for the exam was only that high.

After that, this semester finally came to an end. Young wizards and witches came to Platform 9¾ on the train.

Even Alaric and the girls came here and Alaric waved goodbye to the three girls.

"I'll find a new place for this vacation," he said to them. 

"So, I'll write to you from the new address, and then we can correspond by letter. Of course, you can also come visit me then."

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