HP: The Magical Gamer [Chapter 113: Perk Mentor! ] (Patreon)

Ginny giggled at the reddening face of her elder brother and waved him away, "On your way, Percy. You don't want to mess with the Queens of Gryffindor, do you?"

The students around them snickered at their interactions and a flustered Percy went away mumbling about spoiled immature kids.

"I see that Professor McGonagall's detentions aren't doing anything in curbing your foul mouth, Tori. And who is this another Queen of Gryffindor?" Harry smirked at the other girl, shaking his head in amusement.

Being around Astoria was always fun, if a little chaotic.

"She is Ginny Weasley. My new best friend. And together we are going to be known as the Queens of Gryffindor. We shall rule this house someday." Astoria proclaimed proudly, ignoring his remark about her crass language.

There was no Daphne here to snitch on her so she saw no need to filter her thoughts.

"Nice to meet you, Ginny. I would have liked to save you from this little monster, but it seems you are already far gone." Iris smiled at the fellow redhead, easily ignoring Astoria's cute pout.

"I don't care. Astoria is the best anyway." Ginny grinned, slinging her arm around the blonde.

And no, Astoria didn't blush from the direct praise. Not even a little bit. "Getting back to the topic. As I was saying, this school is stupid. Because it hired Suckhard to teach us. And I know that Suckhard won't teach us anything useful because he doesn't know shite. But I have to learn everything or else my dream to rank first won't come true."

That monologue brought a moment of silence as everybody looked at her with disbelieving expressions. Even Ginny Weasley, her newly titled best friend.

Harry questioned her with a sceptical look. "Really? I didn't take you for a studious girl, Tori."

"I am not. But I want to rub my rank in Daphne's ugly face. Some time ago when I made fun of her for losing against you on the rankboard, she just sneered at me and said 'little nincompoops shouldn't make fun of geniuses'.”

“Can you believe that? I don't even know what the fuck is a nincompoop. That stupid bimbo. I want to shove her bitchy face on the bulletin board where my name would be beside number 1. Will you help me, Harry? Will you help me show Daphne her place?" Astoria's voice had progressively gotten louder and louder until she was yelling angrily.

"Nincompoop means a stupid person." Someone from the other side informed her since the whole house was listening in to their conversation. Not that Astoria made it particularly difficult with how rowdy she was being.

Astoria's head snapped towards the older boy and she practically looked like she was going to murder him. "Gee, I couldn't have guessed that, you fucking nincompoop."

"Come here, Tori. Calm down." Harry said, fighting off a smile, giving the amused older boy an apologetic look.

Shooting a last glare at the 'nincompoop', she proceeded to climb into Harry's lap. She wrapped her arms around him and hid her face on his neck.

"There, there, Tori. You are not a nincompoop. You are a cute and clever girl. So, don't worry, okay? I will tutor you. I will make you the smartest witch of your year. And we will show them. We will show them all." Harry smiled, hugging her close and patting her head in an encouraging gesture.

Astoria nodded and looked at him with barely contained glee. "Really?"

"Really."

She cheered happily and went back to hugging the life out of him.

[QUEST:

– Make Astoria rank first in her end of the year exams.]

[REWARD:

– Perk [Mentor] ]

"Is this normal?" Hermione elbowed Neville who was rolling his eyes at the sappy scene. Was it weird that he was so used to Astoria's behaviour that he knew this was exactly how it was going to play out?

It was an exasperated Iris who answered Hermione instead. "It is."

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Voldemort stood in the castle's storage room. The air was frigid, but it didn't affect him much. He looked down on the ground. There was a single row of dead bodies lying on the cold grey floor in front of him.

These bodies were his tickets to get out of this damn castle, to get out of this cage. And he was grateful for that, even when he knew he wouldn't be able to last long in these bodies.

A day at max before the body would disintegrate and force his mind back here in his true body.

He had to give credit where it was due. Peter Pettigrew had been an important asset who brought him the news from the outside world along with anything he ever asked, including dead bodies.

Alas, Peter was no more. Voldemort was sure of it. He had underestimated Lily Potter and had paid a hefty price. He had lost his only underling as a result.

It was annoying, obviously. The loss of that asset had disrupted his many plans. Now he truly was alone (not counting Her) with limited resources.

Still, he would survive and win. While he couldn't go out directly as was ordained by Chaos, he could use indirect methods.

He was pretty sure that Chaos was playing games with him. That he was acting as a puppet master.

After all, why would Chaos even leave open an obvious window of opportunity to be so easily exploited?

If he hadn't known that already, Quirrell getting lost in the forest and stumbling into his castle was as clear proof as any.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that a man who worked specifically at Hogwarts came to him.

And if that still wasn't enough then the fiasco with the Philosopher's Stone was the dead giveaway.

Chaos must have known that Voldemort could have used that magical stone to gain or give some degree of power and independence.