Devro followed the group outside the castle, holding the broom that the teacher had handed him. He felt a strange sensation from it—one eerily similar to what he had felt during his first visit to Ollivander's wand shop. It was as if the broom and he could communicate, almost like the broom had a will of its own.
Presumably, this was the result of the [Genius Wandmaker] trait at work.
Although flying brooms weren't wands, Devro could sense that they seemed to "choose" their riders. He even felt the urge to modify the broom right then and there, an impulse sparked by another recently loaded trait: [Prank Inventor].
[Prank Inventor (Purple): Possesses extraordinary talent for mischief, remarkable understanding of magic used in pranks, and considerable creativity.]
In the original story, the Weasley twins didn't build their empire solely on joke items. What truly made them successful were the practical magical tools they developed—items that even the Ministry of Magic used in actual operations. Some were even combat-capable.
For instance, they had developed a version of the invisibility cloak that granted full-body invisibility without the need for actual coverage—a magical innovation so advanced that even Hermione, the school's top student, had to admire it.
This was exactly why Devro had loaded this trait. The side effect? Now, whenever he saw an object—even something mundane—he felt an irresistible itch to improve it. But he fought the urge hard.
This broom was school property. Damaging it would mean he'd have to pay for it—and he currently had no source of income.
Devro had also copied another trait from the twins: [Explorer].
[Explorer (Purple): Possesses a strong sense of adventure, high adaptability in complex environments, and some talent for cartography and map reading.]
This trait proved invaluable in navigating Hogwarts. In the past two days, Devro had already explored several hidden tunnels with the twins, but even they hadn't uncovered every secret within the massive castle. After all, they would graduate after sixth year. From then on, Devro would be on his own.
So, he copied this trait as a backup plan. He even intended to create his own magical map of Hogwarts—not one as advanced as the Marauder's Map, which tracked real-time movements of everyone inside the school, but at least a detailed record of all the structures and secret paths he had uncovered.
As he pondered, the group continued walking across the open area in front of the castle, making their way toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Their flying lesson would take place on the lawn nearby.
Devro's eyes caught Neville, who was holding a broom in one hand and a red, glowing orb in the other. He looked worried, deep in thought.
It was a Remembrall.
And it was glowing—which meant Neville had forgotten something important. He appeared to be struggling to recall what it was.
Devro's eyes lit up. He approached Neville and said, "Neville, can I borrow your wand for a moment? I forgot to bring mine from the common room."
Neville, pulling his gaze away from the glowing orb, looked puzzled. "Devro, didn't Madam Hooch just say we're not allowed to use wands in this class? Anyone caught casting a spell on their broom would be kicked out of the lesson."
Devro gave a confident grin. "It's okay. I'm not going to enchant the broom. Just want to keep it in case someone tries anything funny."
Neville, reassured by Devro's calm demeanor, handed him the wand without asking further.
Devro's reputation in Gryffindor was stellar—unlike his standing in Slytherin. Early on, he had helped the first-year Gryffindors deal with the classmate everyone hated most. He was also notably gentle and not at all arrogant, which set him apart from other pure-blood Slytherins.
He was always happy to help classmates, too.
People loved partnering with him in Herbology class because they could count on getting good grades. He was, in short, a high-value teammate.
No one had time to hate someone who consistently carried the team.
Even in Slytherin, things had improved. Aside from Malfoy and his small circle of followers, most others had a much better impression of Devro now. After all, he had earned Slytherin many house points. Slytherins respected strength—and Devro had it in abundance.
It wouldn't surprise anyone if he became a future prefect or even the student council president. No one wanted to fall behind by siding with Malfoy in isolating him.
In fact, some Slytherin students had even started casual conversations with him.
As the group neared the training grounds, Devro reminded himself that he hadn't yet used his daily purple trait copy. He decided to test his natural broom control skills first. If that didn't work out, he'd simply steal Harry's flying talent.
Nearby, Malfoy was still bragging obnoxiously about his flying prowess, complaining that first-years weren't allowed to join the Quidditch team. Over the past few days, he had repeated countless tales about his flying experiences—each more dramatic than the last—and always ending with how he narrowly avoided crashing into a Muggle helicopter.
Devro had heard him several times while writing homework in the common room. The stories were loud and long and gave him a headache.
Still, amidst all the noise, Devro had made an unexpected discovery—one of his second-year Slytherin seniors was a Manchester United fan!
Devro was stunned. He hadn't expected a pure-blood wizard to be interested in the English Premier League. Most wizards found Muggle football boring. After all, there was only one ball, and nobody could fly—what was exciting about that?
The fan's name was Adrian Pucey.
Devro was even more surprised to learn that Adrian was distantly related to Millicent Bulstrode, a fellow student in Devro's year. The Bulstrodes were one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, pure-blood families known for their deep-rooted magical lineage.
Adrian clarified that his connection to the main Bulstrode line was distant. He had grown up in Manchester and said that many of the kids in his neighborhood joined Manchester United's youth training program. He was actually supposed to go, too—but attending Hogwarts made that impossible.
He had been torn about it for a long time.
Adrian had even vowed that Manchester United would win the league title next year.
And with that, Adrian became one of the few people Devro felt comfortable chatting with in Slytherin.
Back on the field, Madam Hooch was instructing the students to stand in rows, preparing to begin their flying lesson.
Just then, Devro accidentally bumped into someone. He looked up and saw Malfoy rubbing his forehead with a scowl.
Devro gave him a mischievous smile. "Oops. Sorry, didn't see you there."
Malfoy glared back.
But Devro was already walking away, chuckling to himself.
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