Hogwarts' John Wick

February 14th.

John originally hadn't noticed the arrival of this particular date.

But Malfoy's hairstyle—meticulously styled for two and a half hours—was simply too eye-catching.

At that moment, he was holding a bottle of cologne and spraying it all over himself. The scent carried a hint of pine.

Crabbe and Goyle walked up, only to be immediately kicked aside by Malfoy.

No one quite knew why, but ever since fifth year, the frequency of those two getting kicked had significantly increased.

Pansy, for once, was freed from Daphne's endless demands. Her face was alight with joy as she batted her lashes, donning an exaggerated bow on her head.

It was hard to believe that someone like Pansy—who looked every bit the scheming vixen—was dressed in full-on sweet-girl fashion.

Her little boyfriend was now in third year and finally eligible to visit Hogsmeade.

Hogwarts was filled with the atmosphere of love—so pink and saccharine it was suffocating.

They lined up to leave, and even through the crowd, one could see Pansy winking flirtatiously at her boyfriend.

Filch stood in the entrance hall, in charge of checking permission slips for the day. One slip after another waved in front of him.

Anyone trying to sneak in without a proper pass would be caught immediately—Professor McGonagall was supervising at his side.

And naturally, Umbridge was there too.

That saggy old face was eyeing the passing students with a suspicious, almost predatory look.

Daphne tugged on John's sleeve. He turned around to see that she had changed her hairstyle.

Her usually loose blonde hair was tied back with a simple hair tie, and she was wearing a white outfit—something she normally wouldn't wear. From a noble young lady, she had transformed into the image of the girl-next-door.

John was momentarily stunned. Daphne's beautiful eyes scanned the crowd.

Noticing his expression, her ears flushed red as she muttered angrily, "Astoria got a love letter!"

"What?"

"Yeah! That guy even asked to meet her in Hogsmeade! I have to find out which house that bastard belongs to!" she growled through gritted teeth.

Her own love life was still nonexistent, and now someone dared try and steal away her family's precious cabbage?

No way. Absolutely not!

Daphne's gaze swept across the boys from the other three houses. She didn't believe any Slytherin would be foolish enough to hit on a Greengrass girl.

It had to be one of the other houses!

Was it Gryffindor?

Those annoying meatheads were definitely likely candidates. Arrogant little boys who thought the world of themselves often had a strange charm to younger girls.

Or maybe it was Ravenclaw? With Astoria being the little sister of a top student, what if she was lured in by one of those know-it-all nerds?

No—wait—it might even be Hufflepuff.

Daphne had to admit, Cedric was indeed an outstanding guy. Her little sister had seen him a few times, so it was understandable if she had developed some good feelings toward Hufflepuff.

John watched silently as Daphne peeked her head out from behind one of the corridor pillars and reminded her, "If you don't hand in the permission slip to Filch, you're not getting out."

Daphne took a deep breath and tried to appear calm as she walked up to give the slip to Filch.

Filch barely glanced at it. When he saw John approaching, he pretended to examine the slip carefully and muttered under his breath, "Mr. Wick.. Do you still have that coupon?"

"The ice cream one?" John thought for a moment and said, "I gave you a discount card. You can keep using it."

"No, Sir, Wick.."—for once, Filch actually looked shy—"I mean the one that only works for two people."

John froze on the spot. What kind of situation was this?

Wasn't Filch always a lonely old bachelor?

He gave Filch a quick once-over.

He noticed that under Filch's usual ratty robe, a corner of brand-new clothing was peeking out. On closer inspection, even his hair looked like it had been specially washed.

"I think that event will have another update soon," John replied quietly.

A flicker of joy crossed Filch's face. He handed back the unsigned permission slip to John.

"Have a lovely time in Hogsmeade!" Filch said with a smile—so cheerful that the surrounding students nearly dropped their jaws in shock.

They had never seen Filch like this before.

John remained expressionless as he casually slipped the permission slip into his pocket.

This scene made Professor McGonagall hesitate to speak. The permission slips were supposed to be handed to the school, not kept by the students.

The image of that student's parent who once flew a car into the school popped into her mind. She decided it was better to pretend she didn't see anything.

After all, John never caused trouble—and his father wasn't half as reliable as John was.

Umbridge wanted to step forward and catch John on something, but remembering his threats, she gripped her quill tightly and stayed rooted to the spot.

The students gradually began leaving.

Most of them walked out in pairs.

Daphne, watching her little sister leave alone, gave a cold chuckle. "That guy's being pretty cautious."

Not far away, Pansy and her young boyfriend were loudly discussing plans to visit the newly opened ice cream shop—the very same one Filch had asked for a coupon for.

Originally, it had been Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley. Rumor had it they'd received an investment and started opening branches all over the country.

To celebrate the grand opening, there was a promotional event: discount coupons for half-off and a lottery draw.

The lottery prizes were exclusive tomato-and-egg-flavored ice cream and mapo tofu-flavored ice cream.

If you had a discount card, though, you could eat any flavor of ice cream.

But why did John have a discount card?

"That shop's really popular. Pansy's mentioned it to me a few times," Daphne said, trying to sound casual. "And there's a couple's week event going on—if you complete a couples' task, you get free ice cream."

As she spoke, her eyes couldn't help but drift from her sister and sneak a glance at John.

Then she quickly added in a flustered tone, "I just heard the ice cream there tastes really good."

"Then let's go try it," John said with a smile.

Daphne immediately forgot all about her little sister.

...5 minutes later...

Daphne got her free ice cream—but her face was full of resentment.

She radiated an invisible aura of bitterness.

John was also eating his ice cream, a cream-flavored one. To be honest, once the flavor faded, it was really cloying.

Daphne looked at the couples lined up at the "Couples Window," where the girl gazed admiringly at her partner as he threw a dart, which landed on "kiss on the forehead" on the spinning wheel.

The girl shyly closed her eyes. The boy gently kissed her forehead.

Task completed. Their relationship took a step forward—and they got free ice cream.

And all of that… was exactly what Daphne wanted.

But reality?

"You just skipped the task completely!" Daphne protested bitterly.

"Ah, we don't need to go through all that trouble."

"Hmm, but why—"

John casually took a bite of his ice cream and said, "Because this shop belongs to me."

That's right—he was the one who had invested in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Not through Silverhand Angel Investments, but with his own personal funds.

Daphne was devastated. Such a golden opportunity!

Just then, she spotted her little sister.

And walking beside her… was Draco Malfoy!

The two of them were heading this way.

Several times, Malfoy tried to grab Astoria's hand, but each time something interrupted him at the last second.

His eyes sparkled as he looked toward the newly popular couples' attraction—this was his moment!

John suddenly found himself being yanked behind a nearby building by Daphne.

Her eyes were brimming with murderous intent.

I didn't even get to do the couple's challenge, and you, you little brat, think you're worthy?

The hunt begins!

"So… Draco's the one who wrote the love letter?" John said, watching Malfoy cluelessly get in line.

Daphne had already gripped her wand tightly.

John could already imagine what kind of disaster was about to befall Malfoy.

Silently, he pulled out a handful of Galleons for Malfoy.

He wasn't sure if a hundred Galleons would be enough to treat Malfoy's injuries through Goblin magic.

…

"I believe love is freedom!"

Malfoy stood beside John with two scoops of ice cream smashed onto his head, sticking up like horns, as he loudly protested.

John gave a half-hearted response, "Mm, freedom."

"Why can't she let Astoria date? What era are we living in? I'm Draco Malfoy, how am I not good enough?"

Malfoy wiped the melting ice cream off his face, his expression full of stubborn defiance.

John hesitated to speak. He honestly felt Daphne just plain disliked Malfoy.

If it had been someone else—at least not someone at the top of Hogwarts' Most Annoying List—Daphne probably wouldn't have stormed over and dumped ice cream on their head.

John gave Malfoy a consoling pat on the shoulder. "Look on the bright side—at least she didn't hit you with a hex."

How was that supposed to be a good thing?!

Malfoy mulled it over. In an attempt to salvage his self-esteem, he turned to John.

He asked, "If you had a younger sister, you definitely wouldn't act like that."

John smiled and shook his head, speaking earnestly, "Silly child, I'd shove your wand straight into your skull."

Malfoy: "…" That was a joke, right?

Not sure. Better take another look.

John was smiling very kindly.

Yeah… it had to be a joke!

Malfoy took the ice cream off his head and, with zero regard for public cleanliness, tossed it to the side of the road.

Astoria had been dragged away by Daphne, leaving John and Malfoy walking together through Hogsmeade.

As they passed the ice cream shop again, they saw Cedric gently kiss Cho Chang on the cheek.

The moment the two completed the couple's challenge, Malfoy suddenly broke into a sprint, snatching the ice cream right out of Cedric's hands.

"Huh..?"

Cedric froze, stunned, as Malfoy shouted while running, "If I can't have it, neither can you!"

He shoved the ice cream into his mouth in one go. The spicy-hot flavor made his whole body jolt—he nearly collapsed on the spot.

He was numb. Completely, utterly numb.

His tongue stuck out, face full of despair. "My tongue's gone numb…"

"You should be grateful Cedric didn't run over and punch you," John said casually as the two of them headed for the Three Broomsticks.

There, Malfoy instantly perked up.

John glanced inside and showed a knowing expression.

So Astoria was just an accident—Potter is the true love!

He spotted Harry inside, and suddenly Malfoy's tongue wasn't numb anymore. He immediately reverted to his cocky prince mode.

Just then, Goyle and Crabbe arrived, and the trio was now complete—ready to summon the Slytherin Swag Squad.

Strutting with the air of "I don't even know my own parents," Malfoy walked into the pub.

Meanwhile, John also looked inside. Sitting not far from Harry was a man with marshmallow-white hair.

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