After a brief welcome, Harry, a mix of nervousness and anticipation, asked, "Um—this is actually my first time joining a club, so I'm not really familiar with things... What are the rules of the SSC club? Do I need to do anything?"
Everyone exchanged bewildered glances.
"—A club?" Theo asked, confused. "Are we considered a club already?"
Neville looked surprised. "Isn't SSC a club? I thought it already was!"
"If students form a club, do they need to report it to the professors?" Ryan asked, a bit uncertainly.
Michael said, "I thought we were more like a society?"
"Societies usually have membership fees, right? We haven't paid anything," Ryan said, based on the scattered information he'd picked up from his Muggle relatives.
Neville furrowed his brow. "I mean—what's the difference between a society and a club?"
Everyone fell silent. Right... What's the difference, besides the name?
They couldn't answer for a moment.
Harry never imagined such a situation would arise. He seriously replayed how things had gotten to this point, then silently looked at Hermione beside him.
Wade looked at Hermione, who was barely suppressing a laugh, and asked helplessly, "Hermione, what did you tell Harry?"
Hermione immediately let out a "Pffft!" of laughter, waving her hand at Harry. "I didn't say anything! You and Ron just guessed it all yourselves, right?"
Harry: "..."
Right... She didn't say anything. She just repeatedly emphasized that it was very important, so they needed to be careful, be prepared, and she reminded him to bring his wand... Then she watched them anxiously guess what kind of test joining a club would involve.
Ron had even come up with a particularly outrageous guess—
"Maybe they'll make you sneak into Snape's office and steal one of his personal items—like his underwear or socks or something. Or throw a Dungbomb in the corridor in front of Professor McGonagall to prove your courage!"
At the time, Ron had looked at Harry with a tragic expression, as if Harry was about to be torn to shreds by an angry professor.
Thinking about it now, Hermione's expression at the time had been pained—he thought it was pain—but she was actually just trying not to laugh, wasn't she?
Or... was it because of all their demonizing guesses that Hermione didn't say anything at all?
"It's like this—" Wade couldn't help but laugh. "We're actually just an after-school study group. Everyone gathers together to practice spells, discuss homework problems with each other, or borrow notes. Generally, we come here to study after dinner, but you're free to come and go. If you don't want to come, you don't need to ask anyone for leave. There are no fixed rules. As for the rules—they're posted on the wall behind you."
Harry turned to look. A piece of paper was tacked to the wall, with only a few short sentences written on it, such as members should help each other, be united and friendly, and not randomly touch other people's things. These were basically basic moral standards that even primary school students should follow. The only special rule was that no one else could be brought into the Umbrella Room without the consent of all members.
Harry first felt relieved—these "rules" weren't really rules at all, nor were there any strong punishments or restrictions. Clearly, all their previous guesses were wrong. But seeing the last rule, Harry's heart sank again.
He's new here himself, could he introduce Ron?
"Harry, your seat's over here." Neville enthusiastically led Harry aside.
Next to Neville's seat, an empty desk was already set up, with an independent bookshelf and cabinet on the side. The surrounding wooden panels formed a semi-enclosed structure, which could block others' views or be lowered for easier communication.
There were also several small tea tables, a food cabinet, and soft, old sofas nearby, with several soft throw pillows on the sofas. These items were things Wade had asked Zoe and others to help prepare—the old furniture in the Room of Requirement almost formed a small town, and by picking out the relatively intact pieces and patching them up, they looked almost as good as new.
The food cabinet was always filled with cakes, biscuits, puddings, and sweets, while several dark silver tin pots held drinks and plain water. These were all prepared by the House-elves for them, without being asked. Not only that, but when the elves had free time, they would also find ways to decorate the Umbrella Room.
When Wade and the others often entered the room, they would find that a small change had occurred in the Umbrella Room. It might be that some strange decorations and photos had appeared on the walls, or a few pots of blooming wildflowers had appeared in a corner, or one or two very useful pieces of furniture had been added.
Unbeknownst to them, this originally empty, abandoned classroom had become increasingly full, with traces of the few people living and studying there everywhere. The room had a warm and vibrant atmosphere.
Harry liked the place almost at first sight.
He also received a parchment for SSC members to contact each other—the Book of Friends. This item was almost universally known now, but Harry, who stayed at school for Christmas, had money but nowhere to buy one.
Among the people he knew, Hermione had one, and she gave Harry a sheet to communicate, but they were together all day, so it was rarely used; Ron had two, one also from Hermione, and the other was sent to him by Mrs. Weasley after the holidays. The Weasley children each had one. Ron often used his Book of Friends to chat or argue with his brothers before going to bed, and then Mrs. Weasley would sternly tell them to go to sleep immediately.
Ron would sometimes complain about his mother's strictness, but Harry was very envious of him.
Now, he also had a second Book of Friends.
He tucked the two parchments into his textbook and slid them into his bag, then looked around—everyone else had already dutifully started doing homework or reading. Even Neville was diligently copying notes for Transfiguration Class.
—This was also very different from studying in the common room. In the Gryffindor common room, students were always noisy, and some were always looking for others to copy homework from; there wasn't this quiet and focused study atmosphere. If they wanted to seriously do homework, they had to go to the Library, but Madam Pince was very strict and didn't allow eating or talking, which was another inconvenience.
Harry settled down and also took out his Charms Class homework to start writing, but after only writing the title, he didn't know how to proceed.
—He should have gone to the Library to borrow a couple of reference books first... But everyone else is studying, would it be too abrupt for him to suddenly leave? Maybe Hermione has books...
As Harry fidgeted and started looking around, Theo, who was nearby, noticed his difficulty and knowingly asked, "Don't know how to write it?"
Harry instinctively used his hand to cover the messy notes and doodles in his textbook, saying awkwardly, "Uh, yeah."
"It's okay, we didn't know how at first either," Theo reassured him. "You can ask Wade. He'll teach you how to write an essay and which reference books you need to read right now. Before you come tomorrow, borrow the books from the Library, and follow Wade's method. You'll quickly find that completing homework is actually very simple."
Actually, Hermione was the one who read the most, but Hermione was used to writing down everything she read—in her eyes, all learned knowledge was important. Wade, however, could pinpoint exactly what their current problems were, what knowledge needed strengthening, and then pick out the most valuable book for them to read. Basically, after reading the book he recommended, those previously half-understood concepts became simple, as if everything suddenly made sense.
As he got closer, Theo also saw the messy notes in Harry's book. After a moment of hesitation, he pointed to the book and asked, "If you don't mind, can I take a look?"
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